With the money from her accident she bought herself a mobile home
So at least she could get some enjoyment from being alone.
No one could say she was left up on the shelf.
It’s you and me against the world kid,
She mumbled to herself.
When the world falls apart some things stay in place
Levi Stubbs' tears run down his face
She ran away from home in her mother’s best coat.
She was married before she was even entitled to vote.
And her husband was one of those blokes,
The sort that always laughs at his own jokes,
The sort that war takes away,
And when there wasn’t a war he left anyway.
Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong
Are here to make everything right that’s wrong.
Holland and Holland and Lamont Dozier too
Are here to make it all okay with you.
And one dark night he came home from the sea
And put a hole in her body
Where no hole should be.
It hurt her more to see him walking out the door.
And though they stitched her back together
They left her heart in pieces on the floor.
When the world falls apart some things stay in place.
She takes off the Four Tops tape
And puts it back in its case.
When the world falls apart some things stay in place.
Levi Stubbs’ tears…
So at least she could get some enjoyment from being alone.
No one could say she was left up on the shelf.
It’s you and me against the world kid,
She mumbled to herself.
When the world falls apart some things stay in place
Levi Stubbs' tears run down his face
She ran away from home in her mother’s best coat.
She was married before she was even entitled to vote.
And her husband was one of those blokes,
The sort that always laughs at his own jokes,
The sort that war takes away,
And when there wasn’t a war he left anyway.
Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong
Are here to make everything right that’s wrong.
Holland and Holland and Lamont Dozier too
Are here to make it all okay with you.
And one dark night he came home from the sea
And put a hole in her body
Where no hole should be.
It hurt her more to see him walking out the door.
And though they stitched her back together
They left her heart in pieces on the floor.
When the world falls apart some things stay in place.
She takes off the Four Tops tape
And puts it back in its case.
When the world falls apart some things stay in place.
Levi Stubbs’ tears…
inviata da Bernart Bartleby - 5/12/2016 - 09:02
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Parole e musica di Billy Bragg
Il primo singolo estratto dall’album “Talking with the Taxman about Poetry”
Il titolo fa riferimento a Levi Stubbs (1936-2008), baritono del celebre gruppo vocale The Four Tops, gli interpreti di brani memorabili come "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)", "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" e "Reach Out I'll Be There".
Si legga al proposito A love letter to the lyrics of Levi Stubbs’ Tears by Billy Bragg, un bell’omaggio a qusta canzone firmato da Phil Adams.
L’inizio della canzone è anche l’esito del racconto.
Storia di una donna abusata e quasi uccisa dal marito stupido e violento, sposato da ragazzina.
Traumatizzata, rimasta sola contro un mondo di irresponsabili, con i quattro soldi ricevuti come risarcimento per una vita distrutta, la protagonista acquista un camper per andarsene via, finalmente sola, finalmente libera, con l’unico conforto che l’ha sempre accompagnata e tenuta in vita: la musica, quella nera, quella soul, quella della Motown di Norman Whitfield e Barrett Strong (gli autori dei grandi successi dei Temptations, di Marvin Gaye, di Gladys Knight & the Pips, di Edwin Starr e molti altri), di Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland ed Edward Holland Jr., che sempre per l’etichetta di Detroit firmarono tanti capolavori di Martha and the Vandellas, delle Supremes e dei Four Tops, per l’appunto.