King of the New York Streets

Obviously, I am not the king of the New York streets -- although last year on Mother's Day my oldest son posted the Tupac song "Mama" for me, with a quip saying something along the lines of "I know you're not a Black queen, and you've never been a crack queen (?) [yes, he posted the question mark], but you've always been there for me." So I'm not a king or a queen, and certainly not a princess. The title song is one of my favorites by Dion, formerly of Dion and the Belmonts. I like Dion a lot. He is one of only a handful or artists I'm aware of who has really developed his sound over the years -- from the late fifties/early sixties all the way up to recently. I'm not sure exactly when his latest album came out, but I don't think it was too long ago. Wait, I'll look. He released an album just this year! I know one of his recent songs, "New York is My Home", which he recorded with Paul Simon. The song from my post title was released in 1989 (I knew it was older, but not that old) on an album called Yo Frankie.

I'm not knocking other musicians who have been around for a long time. I like the Stones and I love The Who. But when you get right down to it, they're still doing the same stuff -- or stuff like the same stuff -- that they were doing at least thirty years ago. I don't fault them for that. If it works, it works. But I really enjoy looking over someone's discography and seeing so much change, as one can do with Dion's music. I'm guessing that if you're aware of what he did in the early days, you may not even know he was still recording, and vice versa. I did see that he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 for "Runaround Sue". I dig that kind of music, but I also like what he's doing now. His newer music is a lot edgier, and introspective without being bleak.

So this song relates to my life in no way, other than that I enjoy it. I just wanted to take a moment to offer praise for a musician who has kept up with the times. If you have a chance, look him up; in addition to being a great musician, he has some interesting pursuits. And as the song of the title says, "Walk tall."