Told from the point of view of a woman who has no use for the man/boy who has fathered her children, Greg Tate weaves a sad but all too familiar story of family dysfunction redeemed by the determination of a woman.
I first met Greg in early 1995 at a poetry slam hosted by Bill Adler in New York. I invited him to my studio and we recorded several of his spoken word pieces that appeared on the Yellow Note albums “We’re Not The Beatles” and “Yellow Note Vs. The Daleks” . The original version was recorded with Bill Clift in ‘95 which I updated in ‘98.
Fast forward twenty odd years and it occurred to me that that Women & Children could work as part of The PoCore project. I edited the original down, remixed and remastered it then handed it over to my good friend Ze’ev Gilad to cut a video, and that is what you have just seen/heard.
I wonder where those fictional children are now.
Original 1995 Version: HERE
Yellow Note 1998 (We’re Not The Beatles Version) HERE
Greg Tate: HERE
Bill Clift: HERE
Ze’ev Gilad: HERE
WOMEN & CHILDREN
Yellow Note featuring Greg Tate.
Women & children can’t wait for men who keep fallin’
A man got baggage claims
And he’s some load to handle.
He’s begging her
To pay his freight
Cos he knows she’s a vessel.
She says:
“A man in my house,
Oh who’s gonna pay the damage.
Open up for what?
I think I’ll stay closed for insurance.
Y’see man the road I travel
Alone is a virtue.
Now these two babies in hand,
I can deal, I can handle.
Two small mouths to feed
Don’t need another full grown and hungry”
She figures,
Who breast is that full
And who’s life is that empty.
But where freedom rings
She seems to him all valley and meadows.
The kind of wide open land
He’d just like to plant all his sorrows in.
Here in the 9
T-Minus and counting:
Women & Children just ain’t gonna wait for men who keep fallin’
Women & children can’t wait for men who keep fallin’