Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue (1983 hit Reggae song information, lyrics, & video)


Dave Brodsky, Uploaded on Jun 17, 2006

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a video of the 1982 Reggae song "Electric Avenue" by Eddy Grant. Information about Eddy Grant is included in this video along with information about this song and the song's lyrics.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Eddy Grant for his musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post, and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT EDDY GRANT
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_Grant
Edmond Montague "Eddy" Grant (born 5 March 1948) is a Guyanese British musician. He was a founding member of The Equals, one of the United Kingdom's first racially integrated pop groups. He is also known for a successful solo career that includes the platinum single "Electric Avenue". He also pioneered the genre ringbang.[1]...

Grant became based in Barbados from 1982 (where he opened his Blue Wave Studios), the same year releasing his most successful album, Killer on the Rampage, which included his two biggest solo hits, "I Don't Wanna Dance", which spent three weeks at number one in the UK as well as selling well internationally, and "Electric Avenue", which reached no. 2 in both the UK and the US.[4][6][10]"....

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "ELECTRIC AVENUE"
From http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1855
"Most American listeners didn't read much into the lyrics, but Grant claims this is a serious song. It refers to a real place in London, and tells the story of a poor man who beholds the things in life he could never achieve.

Electric Avenue is a shopping area in the Brixton section of London, named because is was the first street in the area to get electric lights. Brixton was the setting for riots between police and protesters in 1981, which Grant refers to in the opening line, "Down in the street there is violence."

This is one of the highest-charting reggae-influenced pop songs ever. Grant, a native of Guyana, had many pop and ska groups in England and Barbados. His first band, The Equals, had three Top 10 hits in England in the 1960s. They were the first multiracial band to find success in the UK.

Some interesting chart timing on this song: It made #2 in the UK in January 1983, but didn't reach that position in the US until July. The difference was MTV, which popularized the song when they put the video into rotation not long after Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" made the network much more accepting of black artists...

This was the biggest hit Grant ever had, but he still made showings in the Top 40 internationally with several British singles and "Romancing the Stone" in the US (#26, 1984)."
-snip-
Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brixton for an article about Brixton. That article provides information about the 1981 Brixton riot (Brixton rising) as well as information about several other Brixton riots (uprisings) since 1981.

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From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Avenue_(song)
""Electric Avenue" is a song written, recorded and produced by Eddy Grant, from his 1982 album Killer on the Rampage. In the United States, with the help of the MTV video, it was one of 1983's biggest hits of the year. The song's title refers to an area historically known as Electric Avenue; a reference to the first place electricity lighted the streets in the market area of Brixton, South of London. This is an area known in the modern times for its high population of Caribbean immigrants and high unemployment. Tensions grew until violence hit the street now known as the 1981 Brixton riot. A year later, this song played over the airwaves."...

It was nominated for a Grammy Award as Best R&B Song of 1983,[5] but lost to Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean"."

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LYRICS: ELECTRIC AVENUE
(composer: Eddy Grant)

Boy!
Boy!

[Verse 1]
Now in the street there is violence
And a lots of work to be done
No place to hang out our washing
And I can't blame all on the sun, oh no
[Chorus]:
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Oh, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher

[Verse 2]
Workin' so hard like a soldier
Can't afford a thing on TV
Deep in my heart I'm a warrior
Can't get food for them kid, good God

[Chorus]
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Oh, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher

Oh no...
Oh no...
Oh no...
Oh no...

[Chorus]
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Oh, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher

[Verse 3]
Who is to blame in one country
Never can get to the one
Dealin' in multiplication
And they still can't feed everyone, oh no

[Bridge]
Out in the street...
Out in the street...
Out in the daytime...
Out in the night...

[Chorus]
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Oh no, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher

[Bridge]
Out in the street...
Out in the street...
Out in the playground...
In the dark side of town (HO!)

[Chorus]
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Hey, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher

[Outro]
Rock it in the daytime
Rock it in the night
Rock it eeh-dum-pum-pay
Oooh, in the brixton right

Source: http://genius.com/Eddy-grant-electric-avenue-lyrics

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