Anthony Joseph - Tony

Taken from the forthcoming album: "Rowing Up River To Get Our Names Back" Out Feb.7th pre save here : https://idol-io.ffm.to/rowinguprivertogetournamesback Stream the single Tony : https://idol-io.ffm.to/tony Lyrics That night in Paris at La Belle villoise, The master drummer was propulsive. — with a skitter and a shudder and a rattle of the snare. As if a band of drummers on brekete drums were playing in a circle, a cypher, a region. It was a militant soundtrack for rowing up river to get our names back. This is the ghost note and the flam. The drummer who flicks his wrist and the fluttering unfurls into islands. Even the stick tips are speaking a secret language. This is the mystery note. A paradiddle for Tony Allen — a map of stars to light the night path through the desert. In some far place we are still riding through space, still searching for Africa. Still sending emissaries still appearing to us now as UFOs — afronauts. They are wizards of sound, manipulating the spaces between time with laughter Someone like Tony Oladipo Allen — who always had a smile. I stood backstage in Marseille watching the drummer on the sly. He was duplicitous. A conjure man with seven hands swirling, and yet aware of every nuance and spell. So this is a poem for Tony Allen — a praise poem, a plea for peace — as if the band were swinging and singing the same hymn We be too, we be too, we be too — impertinent. We be too, we be too — impatient. We be too, we be too, — violent. Ready to jump out bus an fight. Ready to jump out car an’ fight. Ready to fight to death tonight. My brother, my sister. Ready to throw we life away like water. Throw we life away like it not precious, like it not nothing. We used to meet in Zurich. We might’ve both been playing in Rome We used to meet in Marseille every summer. And the drummer would call my name across a hotel lobby as if he hadn’t seen me for a long time. He’d say, ‘Peace, brother’ And he always had a smile for me. Credits Richard Spaven drums Dave Okumu guitars, bass, programming, percussion, Fender Rhodes, background vocals Aviram Barath Fender Rhodes, Moog Eska Mtungwazi background vocals, vocal arrangement Byron Wallen trumpet James Wade Sired trombone Colin Webster saxophone Lyrics Anthony Joseph Engineered by Nick Powell and Dave Okumu @daveokumu6185 Mastered by Shawn Joseph - Optimum Mastering Recorded at Unit 9