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Stevie Wonder - Village Ghetto Land Would you like to go with me
Down my dead end street Would you like to come with me To Village Ghetto Land See the people lock their doors While robbers laugh and steal Beggars watch and eat their meals-from garbage cans Broken glass is everywhere It's a bloody scene Killing plagues the citizens Unless they own police Children play with rusted cars Sores cover their hands Politicians laugh and drink-drunk to all demands Families buying dog food now Starvation roams the streets Babies die before they're born Infected by the grief Now some folks say that we should be Glad for what we have Tell me would you be happy in Village Ghetto Land Village Ghetto Land . | |
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Yeah, that was another classic, yet subdued track on his 1976 Grammy-winning album, Songs In The Key Of Life. I never knew that those were synthesizered strings that Stevie played on that GX-1 Yamaha "Dream Machine" synthesizer, the first time I heard it.
This was the synthesizer: 
It's just a shame to know that it was too large to fit into anyone's home!!! A very interesting song, and synthesizer...  [Edited 5/31/05 15:12pm] Check me out and add me on:
www.last.fm/user/brandosoul "Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley | |
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I feel that this song embodies hopelessness. It is at turns elegiac yet beautiful in the most disturbing and disconcerting of ways.
Sonically, the high-brow music sharply contrasts with the song's pathos. Strangely it also connotes an element of fabulousness. I think of those folks who glamorize the ghetto and who have turned it into a lifestyle. These souls have carved substance out of suffering. To anyone else, this place is sheer hell on earth. It is a rotten, violent decosphere. The thought of soft-skinned children infected by grief, playing with rusted cars while politicians and theives laugh in their wake transcends heartbreak. I don't want to believe a place like this exists. I don't want to believe that we, we have made a utopia out of dystopia. Like the melody of the strings, I am left pondering my own existence. This sonic world isn't too far removed from mine own. Even if broken glass isn't littered about my feet. Through all of one's successes, are we all not essentially one step away from this reality? It is framed in the cinema verite, it's hard to know if this jarred reality is not my own. Listening to this song, my mind is abuzz with multiple thoughts, conflicting visuals. My mouth shut, soft tears well the sides of my eyes. I become boxed inside myself, and this world. I grieve over what it all means. What an emotive, haunting tune this be. Are these people real? Are they archetypes? Animals? Stevie sounds akin to a ringleader in a Baroque circus of endless melancholy. I wonder if the police helicopters stirring above act as spotlights. The bars and barbed wire serving as cages. The police roundups merely spectacles displaying the sorely might of these savage mortals. Who would allow such a place to exist and why is it much more than a figment, but an inescapable chasm in many a man's mind. | |
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I love this song. Love's In Need of Love Today, Have a Talk With God, and Village Ghetto Land are some of the best socio-political tracks to ever open an album. I recently realized how brilliant Have a Talk With God is. His drumming and harmonica work are exquisite on that track. Back on topic, Village Ghetto Land has topical lyrics that are underscored by the haunting synth work. The synth was more effective than strings would have been on. | |
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DorothyParkerWasCool said: I love this song. Love's In Need of Love Today, Have a Talk With God, and Village Ghetto Land are some of the best socio-political tracks to ever open an album. I recently realized how brilliant Have a Talk With God is. His drumming and harmonica work are exquisite on that track. Back on topic, Village Ghetto Land has topical lyrics that are underscored by the haunting synth work. The synth was more effective than strings would have been on.
Have A Talk With God scares the heck out of me every single time I hear. I still find myself getting attached to it and just praising the Lord. I guess it scares me because it's very catchy and the background vocals are stranger than ever. But, it is a groovy, spiritual tune!!! [Edited 5/31/05 15:26pm] Check me out and add me on:
www.last.fm/user/brandosoul "Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley | |
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silverchild said: DorothyParkerWasCool said: I love this song. Love's In Need of Love Today, Have a Talk With God, and Village Ghetto Land are some of the best socio-political tracks to ever open an album. I recently realized how brilliant Have a Talk With God is. His drumming and harmonica work are exquisite on that track. Back on topic, Village Ghetto Land has topical lyrics that are underscored by the haunting synth work. The synth was more effective than strings would have been on.
Have A Talk With God scares the heck out of me every single time I hear. I still find myself getting attached to it and just praising the Lord. I guess it scares me because it's very catchy and the background vocals are stranger than ever. But, it is a groovy, spiritual tune!!! [Edited 5/31/05 15:26pm] 
Yeah its one of those songs that takes a while to get hold of you because it sounds so off center. But when it does grab you it doesn't let go. His understated drumming is VERY effective on that track. | |
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This song is very haunting.It's one of Stevie's most effective compositions.And those lyrics...WOW! This song (and the album as a whole) never fails to amaze me. | |
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Stevie is a genius. | |
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JANFAN4L said: Would you like to go with me
Down my dead end street Would you like to come with me To Village Ghetto Land See the people lock their doors While robbers laugh and steal Beggars watch and eat their meals-from garbage cans Broken glass is everywhere It's a bloody scene Killing plagues the citizens Unless they own police Children play with rusted cars Sores cover their hands Politicians laugh and drink-drunk to all demands Families buying dog food now Starvation roams the streets Babies die before they're born Infected by the grief Now some folks say that we should be Glad for what we have Tell me would you be happy in Village Ghetto Land Village Ghetto Land . sounds like Cleveland to me :lol: you look better on your facebook page than you do in person  | |
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meltwithu said: JANFAN4L said: Would you like to go with me
Down my dead end street Would you like to come with me To Village Ghetto Land See the people lock their doors While robbers laugh and steal Beggars watch and eat their meals-from garbage cans Broken glass is everywhere It's a bloody scene Killing plagues the citizens Unless they own police Children play with rusted cars Sores cover their hands Politicians laugh and drink-drunk to all demands Families buying dog food now Starvation roams the streets Babies die before they're born Infected by the grief Now some folks say that we should be Glad for what we have Tell me would you be happy in Village Ghetto Land Village Ghetto Land . sounds like Cleveland to me :lol:  | |
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JANFAN4L said: Stevie is a genius.
| |
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Fantastic song.
that was on a mix tape an uncle gave to me back in '76, so it was one of the first Stevie songs I EVER heard... this song, "Sir Suke" and the album of course got me into all this "mess" in the first place 
. [Edited 6/2/05 1:37am] Vanglorious... this is protected by the red, the black, and the green. With a key... sissy! | |
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JANFAN4L said: I feel that this song embodies hopelessness. It is at turns elegiac yet beautiful in the most disturbing and disconcerting of ways.
That was WONDERFULLY descriptive.
Sonically, the high-brow music sharply contrasts with the song's pathos. Strangely it also connotes an element of fabulousness. I think of those folks who glamorize the ghetto and who have turned it into a lifestyle. These souls have carved substance out of suffering. To anyone else, this place is sheer hell on earth. It is a rotten, violent decosphere. The thought of soft-skinned children infected by grief, playing with rusted cars while politicians and theives laugh in their wake transcends heartbreak. I don't want to believe a place like this exists. I don't want to believe that we, we have made a utopia out of dystopia. Like the melody of the strings, I am left pondering my own existence. This sonic world isn't too far removed from mine own. Even if broken glass isn't littered about my feet. Through all of one's successes, are we all not essentially one step away from this reality? It is framed in the cinema verite, it's hard to know if this jarred reality is not my own. Listening to this song, my mind is abuzz with multiple thoughts, conflicting visuals. My mouth shut, soft tears well the sides of my eyes. I become boxed inside myself, and this world. I grieve over what it all means. What an emotive, haunting tune this be. Are these people real? Are they archetypes? Animals? Stevie sounds akin to a ringleader in a Baroque circus of endless melancholy. I wonder if the police helicopters stirring above act as spotlights. The bars and barbed wire serving as cages. The police roundups merely spectacles displaying the sorely might of these savage mortals. Who would allow such a place to exist and why is it much more than a figment, but an inescapable chasm in many a man's mind. YODA Luminous beings are we...not this crude matter.
Is this 2morrow or just the END of time? The Funk will always b with u "I've got a face, not just my race, Bang Bang I've got you babe!" | |
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meltwithu said: sounds like Cleveland to me :lol: Stevland.  | |
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YODAHENDRIX said: JANFAN4L said: I feel that this song embodies hopelessness. It is at turns elegiac yet beautiful in the most disturbing and disconcerting of ways.
That was WONDERFULLY descriptive.
Sonically, the high-brow music sharply contrasts with the song's pathos. Strangely it also connotes an element of fabulousness. I think of those folks who glamorize the ghetto and who have turned it into a lifestyle. These souls have carved substance out of suffering. To anyone else, this place is sheer hell on earth. It is a rotten, violent decosphere. The thought of soft-skinned children infected by grief, playing with rusted cars while politicians and theives laugh in their wake transcends heartbreak. I don't want to believe a place like this exists. I don't want to believe that we, we have made a utopia out of dystopia. Like the melody of the strings, I am left pondering my own existence. This sonic world isn't too far removed from mine own. Even if broken glass isn't littered about my feet. Through all of one's successes, are we all not essentially one step away from this reality? It is framed in the cinema verite, it's hard to know if this jarred reality is not my own. Listening to this song, my mind is abuzz with multiple thoughts, conflicting visuals. My mouth shut, soft tears well the sides of my eyes. I become boxed inside myself, and this world. I grieve over what it all means. What an emotive, haunting tune this be. Are these people real? Are they archetypes? Animals? Stevie sounds akin to a ringleader in a Baroque circus of endless melancholy. I wonder if the police helicopters stirring above act as spotlights. The bars and barbed wire serving as cages. The police roundups merely spectacles displaying the sorely might of these savage mortals. Who would allow such a place to exist and why is it much more than a figment, but an inescapable chasm in many a man's mind. YODA Thanks. | |
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