Queen, from “News of the World”, 1977
I was nothin’ but a city boy
My trumpet was my only toy
I’ve been blowin’ my horn
Since I knew I was born
But there ain’t no nobody wants to know
I’ve been sleepin’ on the sidewalk
Rollin’ down the road
I may get hungry
But I sure don’t want to go home
So round the corner comes a limousine
And the biggest grin I ever seen
Hey, sonny won’t you sign
Right along the dotted line
What you sayin’ are you playin’
Sure you don’t mean me ?
I’ve been sleepin’ on the sidewalk
Rollin’ down the road
I may get hungry
But I sure don’t wanna go home
Now I’ll tell you what happened…
They took me to a room without a table
They said “Blow your trumpet into here”
I played around as well as I was able
And soon we had the record of the year
I was a legend all through the land
I was blowin’ to a million fans
Nothin’ was a-missin’
All the people want to listen
You’d have thought I was a happy man
And I was sleepin’ like a princess
Never touch the road
I don’t get hungry
And I sure don’t want to go home
Have to have some fun…
(Solo)
And now they tell me that I ain’t so fashionable
And that I owe the man a million bucks a year
So I told ’em where to stick the fancy label
It’s just me and the road from here
Yeah, yeah
I’m back to playin’ and layin’
I’m back on the game
And I’m sleepin’ on the sidewalk
Rollin’ down the road
I sure get hungry and I sure do wanna go home
Yeah
So, do artists have to suffer to be able to communicate with such clarity, or does that clarity come out of suffering and without it, we have no art?
I know this may sound weird, but I find that my best stuff, I mean my best, kick ass writng was at those times in my life I could honestly say were the lowest for me.
I don’t know. I don’t think my current songwriting slump has to do with having it good. Well it could be that š I’m certainly blessed. But I know of others who no matter what can put out great music. So I just don’t know.