Harlem Roulette Lyrics
Steam pushing up in billows through the grates
Frankie Lymon's tracking "Seabreeze" in a studio in Harlem
Its 1968.
Just a pair of tunes to hammer out.
Everybody's off the clock by 10.
Nothing like a New York summer night.
Every dream's a good dream,
Even awful dreams are good dreams,
If you're doing it right.
Get pretty sentimental now and then.
And some no one from the future remembers that you're gone.
Ghosted in the ribbon microphone.
Leave a little mark on something, maybe,
Take the secret circuit home.
Reaching out to sad, young, frightened men.
Yeah, the loneliest people in the whole wide word are the ones you're never going to see again.
Per a performance on pitchforktv, this inspired in part by Frankie Lymon and John's obsession with lives that are ruined by childhood fame (see also his multiple songs about Dana Plato). Lymon was drafted at the peak of his fame and when he got out of the service, his voice had changed. In 1968 he had been taken in by a small Harlem label called Roulette and "Seabreeze" was one of the last songs he recorded. He celebrated the successful session by using heroin and overdosed.
The hook in this song is so brilliant, I believe I know what he is speaking about, but I'm not completely sure.
Frankie Lymon was a teenage R&B singer in the late 1950's who came from a tough upbringing in New York City. He had some big hit songs, but then his voice changed and music styles changed, and he got hooked on drugs. The song tells the story of the night he died of an overdose.
Frankie Lymon was a teenage R&B singer in the late 1950's who came from a tough upbringing in New York City. He had some big hit songs, but then his voice changed and music styles changed, and he got hooked on drugs. The song tells the story of the night he died of an overdose.
"And four hours north of Portland, a radio flips on. And some no one from the future remembers that you're gone."
Wouldn't be John's first Kurt Cobain reference... first half quite clearly about Lymon though.