| Soul Coughing – The Brooklynites Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Actually, just an edit to my previous comment: while Baltic and Smith is in Cobble Hill, which is and has been a nice, family oriented neighborhood, NYHA housing is just a block a way. Before the transformation of Smith St in the mid-to-late 90s, I'd imagine it was a little more dicey there at the wrong time of day. Of course, I could be wrong, since I don't have statistics to go on. Also, this song is really just a Brooklyn scat in a lot of ways. At least, that's how I've always interpreted it. |
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| Soul Coughing – The Brooklynites Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Pretty good attempt, especially with some of the nonsense lines. However, the place/street names are mostly wrong. Changes are marked with an asterisk: Smoke, scent scent, smoke smoke (I want to say he might also be singing "smoke set" for some of the lines, but either one seems possible) (x12) Who's king, pumps up the fat hat Juicing [could also be "Jews sing", as there are a lot of Jews in Brooklyn, and a major center for orthodox and Hasidic Jewish culture] thumps up the fat *cat Joe Six stump up, the ratatat BANG! You *live with Josie and the Pussycats The Brooklynites (x4) Yo! *Change here for the 2, the 3, the 4, the 5, the A, the C, the E, the *B, *D, F, the *N, the R, the Queens-bound G [These are all subway lines, all of which converge in or near Downtown Brooklyn, except curiously for the E, which ran through Brooklyn until the 1970s, though it does connect with the A/C at the World Trade Center. The "V" in your original was indeed a line, but it never crossed into Brooklyn. In addition, this song is from the soundtrack to the movie "Blue in the Face", a sequel to "Smoke", both of which were set in Brooklyn and came out in 1995. The V train did not exist until 2001, and was eliminated in 2010.] Won't you please stand clear of the closing doors? (x2) Smoke scent scent smoke smoke (x4) The Brooklynites (x4) Well! Smoke smoke smoke smoke smoke smoke scent! (continuing throughout) Yeah, Come on, come on, yeah, come on! Six *hoodlums, dicey, their faces *apostrophed with headphones Surround you on the corner of Baltic and Smith [**through the mid 90s, the corner of Baltic and Smith could definitely be considered a dicey area with hoodlums] And disperse in six directions Like electrons used to stream off from the apple of the atom Down on Empire Blvd. On *Fulton and South Oxford Down on the *Flatbush Extension Down under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass *South 3rd St Avenue U *Atlantic and Alice [This is probably the most obscure location in the song. I can't remember whether Alice Ct is mentioned in the movie.] *DeKalb, yeah *Hoyt-Schemerorn Pacific St. Felix *Jay Street Borough Hall The Brooklynites This train is being held by the dispatcher [The last part, Jay Street-Borough Hall, mimics the way the subway conductors often embellished the name of that Downtown Brooklyn stop. However, as of 2011, the stop is now mostly referred to as Jay Street-MetroTech because of a connection re-route. Times change.] |
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