Glenn Lewis (born Glenn Ricketts on March 13, 1975) is a Canadian R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter. Originally planning to pursue a career in animation as a teenager, Lewis instead decided to focus on music. His father was a member of the musical group Crack of Dawn. Lewis has cited Stevie Wonder as his biggest inspiration, and Lewis has often been compared to him because of the similarities in their tones.
Lewis was born in Toronto to a Trinidadian mother, and a Jamaican father. From the ages of 8 to 14, he also lived in Trinidad before moving back to Toronto. After moving back to the city, he attended high school at Eastern Commerce Collegiate, where he won a talent contest by covering Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You". After high school, Lewis began recording demos and performing at nightclubs, eventually becoming a respected act in the city. He parlayed this success into the release of his first single, "The Thing to Do" in 1997 on Beat Factory/BMG Music Canada. The song earned him a Juno Award nomination for Best R&B/Soul Recording. His second single, "Bout Your Love", was released in 1998 and garnered a second consecutive Juno nomination. Lewis was also featured in "Whatever it Takes," a track which appeared on fellow Canadian R&B singer Jazmin's 1999 debut album Better Be Good.
I always pretended for your sake So you wouldn't know how you made my heart break I tried so hard to save you from yourself But I never could cry out loud for help
All I did was help you tell a lie You never even knew it when I said goodbye I ran so far and I don't know why
You never even knew who I was You saw about as far as a blind man does I carried you with me everywhere I went I carried everything till my back was bent
All I did was help you tell a lie You never even knew it when I said goodbye It keeps on raining and I don't know why
All our words are written down in chalk Out in the rain on the sidewalk If all our heartaches were in a stack They'd go all the way up to heaven and back
[Verse 1:]
Body out of order
Alcohol flowin', not a lot of water
Manslaughter with the magic marker
In the lobby of Madison Square Garden, I loiter
The Knicks just got Kenny Walker
But nah, King is the best scorer
Still a sketch drawer
Had a fresh aura, sorta
Married to my art but my style just altered
You see, you see I'm sloppy around boarders
My man told about chalk he had imported
The rumor round town is he snorted
He said he was drawing, Oh that's what you call it?
Nose candy made his whole soul happy
Cold allies in the gutter like a bowling alley
I caught a strike when he tried to throw it at me
Ironically I took a hit like a soldier ally
White lines is a vacation
I seen Keith Haring use it in a train station
He drew it out like he was play-making
It was cleaner than spray paint and I had a new safe
heaven
Took me a while but I became patient
Like an AIDS patient that's waiting up for a grave
placement
My whole style shifted, lifted
Hit it then got addicted from the moment I sniffed it
(I've got cocaine, Runnin' around my brain)
(I've got cocaine, Runnin' around my brain)
[Beat Flip]
[Verse 2:]
Using chalk in Paradise Garage
A bar on the Lower East Side that show art
And whenever the stars come through they bogard
We treat Madonna like Mozart, Oh God
We got so large
Tony Defrazzi is diggin' the whole spark
It was a cold start
Bags of teaching materials is imperial
Got us all high, we were aerial
Girls still dig it, no burial
Rolled a hundred dollar bill
Ben Frank got stoned with me with a higher thrill
Writing skills got sharp like a lion's drill
I got a fire filled, these other guy are fire drills
False alarms with minor appeal
Acquired a deal to scope
Got high for steel, admire the wheel
Daily rush of the fairy dust
Got my face flushed with a scary touch, serious
Fab 5 Freddy had to get me from the telly
I was passed out all over the floor like confetti
Parade got rained on
No umbrella from that brain-storm
Piece of white got my brain worn
A work of art with my frames on
Sick as a bat but I'm Bruce Wayne calm with a cape on
Hospital bed, I.V. in my vein long
Can't wait until this pain gone
Chalk
[Bridge: Cee-Lo Greene]
All I want is your understanding as in the small light
of affections
[Veterain Coke-Head:]
The official toxicity for humans is between 1 and 1 and
a half grams of cocaine depending on body weight. I was
averaging 5 grams a day, maybe more. I snorted 10 grams
in 10 minutes once. I guess I had high tollerence
(Wake up, wake up, wake up)
(Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up)
(Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up)
[Verse 3:]
Early morning flight, got the red eye
Looking like a Jedi
Light saber, light saber
Body not in N.Y. flight take a Ice Breaker
Rambling am I? Disoriented
In and out of conscience
Dealing with the nonsense
No longer pompous, obnoxious, rambunctious
The social life's at my bedside, prayers up above
Unicorns are flying
Maybe it's the drugs
Crush on my nurse
Navy in her scrubs
They said I got a buzz (Wha-WHAT!)
A dedicated wall with my picture on it
Inebriated flaws pourin' liquor on it
I ain't dead yet
I'm RSVP for the pearly gates, haven't got in yet
Neighbor in the next bed
Lost his left leg
On his death bed
He was a meth-head
Chalk put me in a yolk like fresh eggs
I hope for the best meds
Drawing question marks in jet red
Or jet blue
Jet black?
Memory lost track
I lost track
Call Back
Jupiter is hotter in the winter when the bird's gotta
swim across the river to get dinner
Lost a lot of weight
I'm feeling thinner
H2O in my ex's eyes
I forgive her (don't cry)
I've seen better days
If I pass, After I die