The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living; The Streets

The beginning of a New Year is always time for restart things in our lives that were left behind. And it's also time for launch new projects. And make our promises come true. This first day of 2012 I promise reopen this blog, but working with more calm, because today I have more important projects in my life.

Having said that, without further ado, let's get started! The first whistling song of the year is the title track from the third studio album of The Streets, released in 2006. The Streets is the rap/UK garage project "led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner and has included a myriad of other contributors most notably drummer Johnny Drum Machine, vocalist Kevin Mark Trail and the Italian-American beatmaker Leroy."

The album was listed as #18 at the Spin's top 40 best albums of 2006. On this page we can found a minibio written by Mikael Wood:

Mike "The Streets" Skinner ascended to semi-celebrity with his first two records by rapping about what few others would -- losing his cell phone, being late for a date, standing in line for chips (a typical day in the life of a geezer, as his catchphrase announced). Here, on his pop-star coming-out, Skinner's lyrics dip into bling and blow, but retain the warm, intimate vibe of his earlier stuff. In the world of the Streets, experience isn't a hierarchical concept: Skinner does, therefore he is.

Talking about Spin Magazine, I'll post here what was said about this song in its website:

Skinner focuses on the specifics of his day-to-day routine. The businessman on the title track just happens to be a musician; he accounts for cash outlays with the exasperation of any harried entrepreneur. Meanwhile, he's accompanied by a melancholy whistle (as in "while you work") and a claustrophobic keyboard that essentially recasts the Animals' "House of the Rising Sun" as a labor-camp trudge.

I need something in my life to straighten me out
Let's rent this shed, we'll do vocals in the bog
Call toast PR tell 'em we've opened up shop
Campaign meetings at Warner, no coke and not drunk
3 years to make this work, or look a joke and be broke
Blag their lawyers like the con with a dog
And there'll be no more straight scores to drop and keep dropping
Settle my gross addictions with my net and come
Tell my mum over tea that my whole life's fucking up
We've got two fifty grand in the budget to go
Subtract five for club promo
Lose five for a good video and fifteen for a dud video, fuck that

It's the hardest way to make an easy living
The party stage is a bit nearer to delivery

Mayhem textes me about the press and TV
See if I've taken any Es
So I can get some sleep
Nap on the settee, the laptop next to me
Wince for my family at the skinner scandal of the week
TV pluggers, product managers straight up
Club promo needs to step up, help it work
Stick to our guns, don't crack to demands
Tell my mum in the car, that the car might have to go back
Two hundred and twenty five grand
Twenty six grand for a showcase
And five more on tour support and support story

It's the hardest way to make an easy living
The party stage is a bit nearer to delivery

We'll never get bankrupt if we never have a go
This is no ordinary able, I need to flash up my flow
Go into Morris stead as well as saville row
I want a pin-stripe suit that no man owns
Cash in the Kano beat for the silver shadow
Send it to warrior for the flash and the glow
The safest way to double your money is to fold it in your pocket
Tell my mum during breakfast that I got no sleep
Eight grand paid in September, April, may and December
If this keeps going so well, this is going to be the end of us

It's the hardest way to make an easy living
The party stage is a bit nearer to delivery

In spread betting it's easy to draw a small fortune start
With a big fortune and lose into a small fortune
Haven't got a clue, we blindly charge on
Death threats from a boy of the girl I sarged on
She said she didn't have a bloke, another lesson marked down
Verbal agreements aren't worth the paper they're marked on
Get scans of reviews, we beg to chart up
Tell my mum over tea, the press have started up
We've spent a fortune
'Cause with ghost buying it's the end for tune
We need to sell some records soon

It's the hardest way to make an easy living
The party stage is a bit nearer to delivery

It's the hardest way to make an easy living
The party stage is a bit nearer to delivery

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