Story Behind The Song
Blood is a Rock Blues - a song for mothers/parents - about protecting 'their own' against all the odds
It's also a tribute to the youth who create incredible poetry and beats - regardless of the pressures in their lives
Blood was actually inspired by a visit to Harlem where I saw a tree loaded with the trainers of young men who had been shot in the drug-war crossfire on that particular corner (there were many more trees)
I could relate this to my own son's life, being a single parent living in a deprived area of London at the time where the increase in crack sales was evident and on more than one occasion I had to 'step into the fray' for my young son's safety
Song Description
The song comprises tense and shrill background vocals to compliment a hard rock guitar feel against an easier Hip Hop rhythm, keys and electric guitar
It's a 4/4 beat throughout but there is a feeling of 'delay' in the mid 8 section
It's lyrically dense and hard hitting - survival feel
It crescendo's at the outro
| Song Length |
4:51 |
Genre |
Blues - Rock, Country - Americana |
| Tempo |
Medium Fast (131 - 150) |
Lead Vocal |
Female Vocal |
| Mood |
Tense, Disturbed |
Subject |
Ghetto, Barrio, Communication |
| Similar Artists |
Steely Dan, Foo Fighters |
Language |
English |
| Era |
2000 and later |
| |
Lyrics
BLOOD
Do da'm do dap doo dap doo d'u doo do'm
There's this place I've seen
I never been anywhere like that before
Too many lost chances
Second shots rappin' on the door
Winter branches laden
With the fruits of youth cut short
The street end symbol
Of a commodity a cheap import
Life can disappear round here
Rockin' 'tween a hard place and fear
Think you seen a grey sky oh my
Why don't you try watchin' your line die
In the twinkling of an eye
If it takes all the fight in my bein'
I'm gonna' hold back the flood
If it takes all the sight in my seein'
I'm gonna' look out for my blood
All the mothers' tears
Flowin' downstream on the Harlem river
Won't wash that garbage to infinity
Draggin' 'em down forever
Project ghost towns
Stand up like heartless centries in a line
A legacy to the bereft
An ongoin' theft of human dignity
If it takes....
This is a time for the survival of the fittest
Forefathers' lines prophetic rhymes
Of a re-visit
The youth have found a scheme profound
An ancient strategy
A seeing sense frank and intense
Their ghetto liturgy
Truth has insistence
Metamorphosising through the ages
You have to recognize
Its path in all its many stages
It measures out its many treasures
To the ones that hear
This ain't no trend
Just lend this Hip Hop troubadour your ear
Cos his message is loud and clear
If it takes ....
? Bennett 2003