Lyric of the Week: JRZguyinLA
Well I suppose I should tell you how I got here
How I somehow got steered across this continent
From the Shore to the Coast, oh Lord have mercy
It’s a long way from Jersey but I’m here to represent
How did I, the consummate East Coast dude
With East Coast attitude, find myself in this place
Did I change my place in order to change my fortune
A more abundant portion and a dose of good grace
Well I made it here in one piece, I made it this far
Driving a 26-foot U-Haul, towing my car
I didn’t come here to become a movie star
But let whatever is supposed to happen, happen
‘Cuz I’m a Jersey guy
A Jersey guy in LA
I’ve replaced the Garden State Parkway
With the Golden State Freeway
I’m a Jersey guy
A Jersey guy in LA
Is it just me, or is the ocean
On the wrong side of the highway
Santa Monica’s got nothing on the piers of Wildwood
In terms of second childhood or summer boardwalk thrills
But there’s no place down the shore quite like Venice Beach
No heights that can reach up like the Hollywood Hills
Well each place has its glamour and each has its grit
And I don’t quite fit, but I try to make the best
It’s the latest episode of making my way in this world
My reality got swirled on my trip from east to west
Well my leather jacket squeaks and my boot heels click
Got a sense of northeastern cool and downtown slick
Imported from back home, and I make sure it still sticks
Let he who understands, understand
That I’m a Jersey guy
A Jersey guy in LA
There’s just something wrong when in the summer everything’s brown
And in the winter everything’s green
I’m a Jersey guy
A Jersey guy in LA
I’ll put a new coat of paint on this lonesome old town
And find a way to make it my scene
Down at Franklin and Cahuenga I was mistaken for a local
Some tourist or yokel figured I belonged
He couldn’t distinguish my accent or inflection
I gave him directions, smiled, and sent him along
Well I’ve been cruising down these boulevards
Trying hard to discard what I believed all my days
And I’ve been taken over by a spiritual groove
With the power to move me beyond these falsely held clichés
The sun has blasted my mind and burned away the winter blues
It’s done a number on the old ways and broken old taboos
I don’t know what I’ll find here, I could either win or lose
But let whatever will be done, be done
‘Cuz I’m a Jersey guy
A Jersey guy in LA
I may find new arrangements
But I’ll still be playing the same basic tune
I’m a Jersey guy
A Jersey guy in LA
Don’t expect me to evolve into a beach boy
An eagle or chili pepper anytime soon
Well I’m a Jersey guy
A Jersey guy in LA
From 287 and 95
To THE 10 and THE 405
I’m a Jersey guy
A Jersey guy in LA
From Route 1&9 to Highway 101
I’m here, babe, I’ve arrived!
©2018 The Hesh Inc.
The opening salvo of my projected opus about my time in Los Angeles. Loosely based on my song "Jersey Shore Baby," from the album Soul In Exile 2: Jersey Shore Baby, turned a bit inside out. It may be a continuation of the Soul In Exile story—how could it not be? The Jersey guy goes to the West Coast and takes to it like a fish to water, despite all his East Coast prejudices that he left somewhere in the desert as he crossed the country overland! But we'll see. If and when I do get to making that album, I imagine these lyrics will be refined a bit. But as a burst of cautious optimism, it does well.