Lyrics to
17th Street

This version of 17Th Street was released by Gil Scott-Heron in 1976.

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I’ve done a lot of travellin’, seen a lot of pretty faces.
I’ve sung my way out blues songs in extraordinary places.
I come from 17th Street and that’s on the other side of town,
an’ if you see me wit’ my brothers
don’cha dare go no further
you know we gonna get down, down, down.

Some people think I’m crazy, they say gil,
“it mus’ be in yo’ mind.” They tell me
“there jus’ ain’ no sane reazon the way
yawl get down ev’ry time.”
(I trytatellemthat):
“I come from 17th Street an’
that’s where the brothers don’ mess around”
and if you lookin’ for the music
an’ we find out you can use it
you know we gonna get down, down, down.
If you lookin’ for excitement you may need
only look next door
because the brothers from 17th Street
they don’t all live there anymore.
Some done moved to Harlem an’
Some moved way uptown, but if you
thinkin’ bout the Spirit
an’ you want to get near it
c’mon, c’mon an’ get down, down, down.

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Gil Scott-Heron has released many songs over the years besides 17Th Street. Gil Scott-Heron released songs from 1970 to 2005 spanning across albums like Small Talk At 125th And Lenox, Pieces Of A Man, Free Will, Winter In America, The First Minute Of A New Day, It's Your World, From South Africa To South Carolina, Bridges, Secrets, The Mind Of Gil Scott-Heron, 1980, Real Eyes, Reflections, Moving Target, Spirits, and Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - Messages (Anthology). Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Gil Scott-Heron.

If you're a fan of the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1976 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and 17Th Street by Gil Scott-Heron

The lyrics to 17Th Street are the words, verses and chorus for the song released by Gil Scott-Heron in 1976. Elements of the lyrics to 17Th Street are both direct in meaning and also metaphorical with the real meanings of the song only known by Gil Scott-Heron and any collaborating writers working on the lyrics for 17Th Street back when it was created.

Some people have an interest in the etymology behind words and phrases. You can take apart the lyrics to 17Th Street by Gil Scott-Heron in a number of ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to 17Th Street" means the words set to the music of 17Th Street, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Gil Scott-Heron. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to 17Th Street and the lyrics to 17Th Street are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Gil Scott-Heron who came here looking just for the lyrics to 17Th Street, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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