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Gowanus Canal

by Teepo Familiar ft. Meiko

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about

I got the idea for this track after Paul and Storm revealed that the lyrics their track "Gowanus Canal" from their Ball Pit album were cribbed from a Brooklyn Eagle letter by Michael J. Shay which was old enough that it was out of copyright, so I decided to make my own track with the same lyrics!

I used the vocaloid MEIKO because unfortunately, I cannot sing for the life of me.

Cover art by me, based on a photo by Jim Henderson, which you can find here: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gowanus_Canal_boats_jeh.JPG

Contains a sample of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" first published in 1909: archive.org/details/78_swing-low-sweet-chariot_fisk-univeristy-jubilee-quartet-j-w-work-n-w-ryder-j_gbia0017653a

lyrics

Lyrics:
Away down town where the atmosphere is hazy,
From the smoke of all the factories ascending to the sky,
The smells they are so horrid, it would almost set you crazy,
But I'm told that in the neighborhood the people seldom die.

Way up on the slope all the people are complaining,
From the foul-scented odors all their health is quickly waning,
And the smoke from the soft-coal, their linen it is staining,
When the wind blows that way from Gowanus Canal.

When the wind blows East, when the wind blows West,
Or when it's from the North or South you never get a rest.
In Summer or in Winter, in the Spring or in the Fall,
You breathe the same old odors from Gowanus Canal.

In fabled "Darby's Patch," oh that muddy stream, it rises
And down to sweet Gowanus Bay it rushes with a roar
Where barges and canal boats and schooners of all sizes
Are unloaded by Tom Hanley, the jolly stevedore

The girls you find down there are all so winsome and so pretty
And the boys they are so healthy; if not handsome, then they're witty
And you know our boy Farrell–"he'll be Mayor of Slob City"–
He's thriving on the odors of Gowanus Canal

When the wind blows east, when the wind blows west
Or when it's from the north or south, you never get a rest
In summer or in winter, in the spring or in the fall
You breathe the same old odors from Gowanus Canal

When the wind blows east, when the wind blows west
Or when it's from the north or south, you never get a rest
In summer or in winter, in the spring or in the fall
You breathe the same old odors from Gowanus Canal

credits

released June 10, 2022
Music: Samuel Abram
Lyrics: Michael J. Shay

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Iron Curtain image

Iron Curtain Brooklyn, New York

I make chip music, and am based in Brooklyn, NY, USA. My mother, Dorothy Siegel, did the same back in 1978 (seen here: www.vintagecomputermusic.com ), making me a second generation chip musician. I play the Game Boy with LSDJ, as well as other retro game systems.

Photo © 2012 Marjorie Becker, www.chiptography.com ... more

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