Jill Scott : A Long Walk

SONG A Long Walk

WRITTEN BY Jill Scott, Andre Harris

PERFORMED BY Jill Scott

APPEARS ON Who is Jill Scott ? (Words and Sounds Volume 1)


I was looking at some of my older posts and they are way too serious. Whenever I start thinking about which song to write about on this blog I try to find something really deep and thought provoking. I’m probably thinking to hard about it. After all, I am only 35 years old and I am not that deep once you get to know me. I guess my general blogging principle of having something to say is getting in the way of selecting a song that’s just fun to listen to. I’m going to change that so I wanted to write a lighter post this time about a song that I would listen to when I am just lighting the grill and sipping on a cold one. It’s almost the end of the summer. The weather is nice and people should be out enjoying themselves. The song I would like to present to you is one that I play during those times. It is performed by the lovely and talented Jill Scott. The song is titled A Long Walk and it appears on her debut album Who is Jill Scott (Words and Sounds Volume 1). In my opinion this is a classic R&B album in the modern Neo-Soul era. It manages to keep its quality over time which honestly isn’t something that many modern rhythm and blues or hip hop albums do these days.

Jill Scott is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She’s a singer, a poet, an actor, and sometimes in my daydreams she’s my long distance girlfriend. She was discovered by my favorite band The Roots and released her debut album in 2000. She writes very thought provoking and insightful lyrics but I selected this song because of its simple message. The song is about her desire to just take a walk with this man that she is really into. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a summer’s evening than that. I wouldn’t mind taking a nice walk with Jill for a few hours. When you really like someone it doesn’t really matter what you do together. All that matters is that you and that person are together. That’s the message in this song. Why the message may be clear and easy to figure out, the lyrical word play is quite impressive. You can hear the spoken word background in a lot of her songs. From a cultural standpoint I appreciate this song for the same reasons I named in my post about Talib Kweli. Any song that speaks to the positive side of young African American relationships gets special attention from me. The sister’s aren’t all trying to trap us and take our money. All the brothers aren’t trying to have sex with every woman we meet. Sometimes we just want to buy some ice cream and listen to the radio. I know I ended up putting a message in here anyway but I couldn’t help myself.

Lyrics:

You're here, I'm pleased
I really dig your company
Your style, your smile, your peace mentality
Lord, have mercy on me
I was blind, now I can see
What a king's supposed to be
Baby I feel free, come on and go with me

Let's take a long walk around the park after dark
Find a spot for us to spark
Conversation, verbal elation, stimulation
Share our situations, temptations, education, relaxations
Elevations, maybe we can talk about Surah 31:18

Your background it ain't squeaky clean shit
Sometimes we all got to swim upstream
You ain't no saint, we all are sinners
But you put your good foot down and make your soul a winner
I respect that, man you're so phat
And you're all that, plus supreme
Then you're humble man I'm numb
Yo with feeling, I can feel everything that you bring

Let's take a long walk around the park after dark
Find a spot for us to spark
Conversation, verbal elation, stimulation
Share our situations, temptations, education, relaxations
Elevations, maybe we can talk about Surah 31:18

Or maybe we can see a movie
Or maybe we can see a play on Saturday (Saturday)
Or maybe we can roll a tree and feel the breeze and listen to a symphony
Or maybe chill and just be, or maybe
Maybe we can take a cruise and listen to the Roots or maybe eat some passion fruit
Or maybe cry to the blues
Or maybe we could just be silent
Come on, Come on

Let's take a long walk around the park after dark
Find a spot for us to spark
Conversation, verbal elation, stimulation
Share our situations, temptations, education, relaxations
Elevations, maybe we can talk about Surah 31:18

Or maybe we can see a movie
Or maybe we can see a play on Saturday (Saturday)
Or maybe we can roll a tree and feel the breeze and listen to a symphony
Or maybe chill and just be, or maybe
Maybe we can take a cruise and listen to the Roots or maybe eat some passion fruit
Or maybe cry to the blues
Or maybe we could just be silent
Come on, Come on

Let's take a long walk around the park after dark
Find a spot for us to spark
Conversation, verbal elation, stimulation
Share our situations, temptations, education, relaxations
Elevations, maybe baby, maybe we can save the nation
Come on, Come on