Occupy song #1: "As The Whole World Watches"

October 2011

As the Occupy Wall Street movement began, it was very hard for me to sit in a modest rental in Louisiana and watch the events unfold in New York City. After all, I was born in Spanish Harlem, raised in a project near Yankee Stadium, went to high school in Westchester, danced the Hustle at Studio 54 and squatted in an abandoned East Village tenement shortly before the riot in Tompkins Square Park. 

NYC is in my DNA.

Seems like my life has been peppered with historic New York moments that helps me remember the amazing grit & character the city once possessed. Before the Apple got shined, I remember the beauty of it's wormy core.

Having been part of many marches, community actions and awesome benefit concerts, a motion stirred inside me to take a sabbatical from my job as a barker on Bourbon Street and return to the state my birthplace, seeking creative/artistic involvement in what was quickly becoming a global phenom of change and social revolution.

Occupy-Inspired EP from FILTER KINGZ

With the help of my co-producer/whizkid Phillip Gelbach and NY indie producer Todd Carter, I am very proud to be a part of a collection of songs inspired by the Occupy Movement that form an EP for the European Electronica group FILTER KINGZ called "$ongs Of Change". These songs will also be included in my forthcoming solo CD " Adventures In The New recession".

This song, "As The Whole World Watches", is one possible explanation about "Why they occupy", as seen through the eyes of someone who (finally) gets it. 

These lyrics are framed in a downtempo Hip Hop / R n' B groove layered with honky-tonk upright piano licks and psychedelic guitar textures.

Enjoy,

James Avatar
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As The Whole World Watches
By James Avatar & The Blacklist

Music By Todd Carter, James Avatar &Tim Curtis

Lyrics by James Avatar

Produced by Todd Carter & Filter Kingz

Guitar by Tim Curtis

From the forthcoming "$ongs Of change" EP by Filter Kingz

And the forthcoming " Adventures In The New Recession" CD by James Avatar

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And the whole world watches..

Take a look outside your window, see the people holding signs
It's a brand new situation, It's a sign of these changing times
People tired of politicking, on the banks they can't rely
People talking about walkin’ the walk & this is why they occupy

All the ones on the left seem lazy, all the ones on the right seem crazy
In the middle they speak riddles and none of them can see eye-to-eye
Raise for the one percent  got higher, one o' them ninety-nine  got fired
Got no money - not so funny and this is why they occupy

1ST CHORUS
Mama told me something and it stuck in my brain she said ; "Don't just stand there-do something!"
I read a sign in a subway train it said ; "if you see something-say something."

People talkin’ bout got no house, couldn't pay the bank so they had to fly
People talkin'’ bout got no job, twenty years deep, gotta say goodbye
People talkin' bout got no teachers, now they march in the street with preachers
and in case you wonder why this is why they occupy

People talkin' bout livin' in fear, and drowning in their tears
Now after all these years you can hear the people cry
They will diversify on common sense they will rely
it's time to unify and this is why they occupy

2ND CHORUS
If you wonder why / they all decide to occupy
Don't shake your head from side to side
It's just a different sacrifice, they call themselves "The 99"

If you wonder why / they all decide to occupy
They're mad as hell, sick & tired
No longer blind inside their eyes, They call themselves "The 99"

And the whole world watches..
The whole world watches. (X2)

Instrument solo

1ST CHORUS

2ND CHORUS; REPEAT TO END

MCN: CPJS0-X0KUW-A5GWL

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