This is something yet again very different (for me!). It's an original song, but the genre is quite different to what I normally do, even though it features Spanish guitar. It's called "Honesty Street" and features Tamsyn Berry (Piskie Tams) on vocals, and was written by a friend of mine, Wendy Wolf, who is a very good songwriter that I've known since the 90s (and also used to be in a band with), and who was inspired to write some new music after hearing the vocal version of "Fragile" that I released last year.
Wendy says: "I dreamed the entire song (as I often do), woke up and sang it into my phone immediately. It comes from my frustration with pleasantries and fakeness, and the satisfaction I feel when I can trust someone well enough to be honest with them, even if they may not always agree with my views."
As soon as I heard the rough demo of this song, I knew that it really had something special, and I knew that I was "the chosen one" to perform the musical alchemy required to create what you'll hear next week. I also intuitively knew that this song - the music, the lyrics, everything about it, was something that "needed" to be created and released unto the world. It's fun and quirky, yet with a lyrical topic that the world needs right now.
lyrics
HONESTY STREET
Take a trip down Honesty Street
You can say what you want to whoever you meet
If you’re tired of Nicety Avenue
This is the place where your dreams will come true
So let’s go, It’s the safest place I know,
It’s the place I always go when I’m down, when I feel I could drown
Put your feet on the ground, when you’re lost get found on
Honesty Street, a little place where everybody speaks their mind
You can leave the mad world behind, down on Honesty Street
Take a trip down Honesty Street
You can say what you want, even talk about me!
Truth is never easy to say
But we know when you’re telling us lies anyway
Why care?
Just come and join me there,
That highway where your conscience can rest, get it all off your chest
When you’re feeling suppressed you can be your best on
Honesty Street…
Take a trip down Honesty Street
It’s a place you can go every night in your sleep
There you won’t become a pariah
For telling the truth or for starting a fire
So get gone
To the place where we belong
Where truth is never wrong, though it hurts, cos dishonesty’s worse
We could live in reverse … or just traverse down
Honesty Street, a little place where everybody speaks their mind
You can leave the mad world behind, down on Honesty Street
Down on Honesty Street
Down on Honesty Street
Down on Honesty Street
credits
released October 6, 2023
Words and music: Wendy Wolf
Guitars, production: Mark Barnwell
Vocals: Tamsyn Berry
Asili's signature blend of Afro-Latin and Caribbean sounds with rock uplifts the stories and power of women of color around the world. Bandcamp New & Notable May 7, 2019