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Across 110th Street Lyrics

I was the third brother of five,
Doing whatever I had to do to survive.
I'm not saying what I did was alright,
Trying to break out of the ghetto was a day to day fight.

Been down so long, getting up didn't cross my mind,
I knew there was a better way of life that I was just trying to find.
You don't know what you'll do until you're put under pressure,
Across 110th Street is a hell of a tester.

Across 110th Street,
Pimps trying to catch a woman that's weak
Across 110th Street,
Pushers won't let the junkie go free.
Across 110th Street,
Woman trying to catch a trick on the street.
Across 110th Street,
You can find it all in the street.

I got one more thing I'd like to y'all about right now.
Hey brother, there's a better way out.
Snorting that coke, shooting that dope man you're copping out.
Take my advice, it's either live or die.
You've got to be strong, if you want to survive.

The family on the other side of town,
Would catch hell without a ghetto around.
In every city you find the same thing going down,
Harlem is the capital of every ghetto town.

Across 110th Street,
Pimps trying to catch a woman that's weak
Across 110th Street,
Pushers won't let the junkie go free.
Across 110th Street,
A woman trying to catch a trick on the street, ouh baby
Across 110th Street,
You can find it all in the street.
Yes he can, oh

Look around you, just look around you,
Look around you, look around you, uh yeah.
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6 Meanings

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Cover art for Across 110th Street lyrics by Bobby Womack

oh man, this is such a great song...always gets me a thrill

love it in jackie brown and american gangster!!!

Cover art for Across 110th Street lyrics by Bobby Womack

awesome song! not many have commented though to my surprise....

Truly realistic! And melancholic, too! We feel it as we were in Harlem, playing Jackie Brown's role in Tarantino's movie! No better song could have ended that movie! A superb movie, a superb song!

Cover art for Across 110th Street lyrics by Bobby Womack

It's about a guy and the neighborhood he grew up in. He wanted to avoid the vices other people around him gave into, but at some point he did some things he regrets. Things he won't allude to specifically, because they were morally and/or legally wrong. He's not proud of what he did, but he also thinks he did what he had to do to escape the ghetto.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Across 110th Street lyrics by Bobby Womack

This song's about street life in east Harlem. Usually avenues are west of the main street in a town and streets are to the east.

What the hell are you even babbling about? Avenues/Streets have NOTHING to do with Main St. Avenues run one direction usually N-S and Streets another direction usually E-W.

Not Valid
Cover art for Across 110th Street lyrics by Bobby Womack

110th Street is the North End of Central Park in NYC. North of central park is Harlem

Cover art for Across 110th Street lyrics by Bobby Womack

While I agree with man2542 that it's one of the Greats and it's surprising that there have not been more comments to that effect~I guess I wish I were MORE surprised that the comments there ARE are nitpicking about the particulars of the Harlem neighborhood of NYC. And the way Streets & Avenues are commonly arranged in most towns. Note the following two lines: In every city you find the same thing going down/Harlem is the capitol of every ghetto town. You Dig? It's Pretty Damn Sad to have to explain one of the more self-explanitory songs EVER written,but folks, Come On! What MAKES this song one of the Greats,what MAKES it, for example, the PERFECT song for the final shot of Jackie Brown', as she sings along to it on the radio as she drives off into her well-earned,wonderful future? Well,the KEY to Why is in those two lines, which takes it out of the Strictly Literal.It's not JUST about 110th Street in Harlem~it could be Whateverthehell Boulevard in ANY ghetto in the US: Oakland,Dallas,Gary,Detroit,Newark,New Orleans,Tuscon,Chicago,Vallejo,Los Angeles~anywhere. What the song is ABOUT is Getting Over & Getting Out,& how this requires the strength and courage and intelligence to NOT get caught up in The Game. Pam Grier's character in Jackie Brown DID Get Over & Get Out.But in the BEGINNING of that film, her life can be better described by the lyrics in Randy Crawford'sStreet Life' ~ a song that pretty much illustrates the seductiveness of getting caught up in The Game & ultimately being stuck in (& victimized by) that.This song is ALSO featured in the movie. It doesn't have anything to do with the specifics of 110th Street. Really, I promise.

My Opinion