From the recording Los Angeles
Angelo Moore is one of the few musicians that truly defines the city of Los Angeles. Having come up with Fishbone in the uber-creative early 80’s alongside the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, and other rule-breakers of the era, Angelo has come to be known as one of the godfathers of the unbridled blend of punk, funk, ska, and poetry that so many Los Angeles bands and musicians explored.
However, coming from the land of glamour and seeing the tougher sides of the ruthless entertainment business bears a price to pay - and someone born and raised in Los Angeles who enters into its #1 industry ends up in a complicated relationship with the city itself.
In this meditative, powerful song, Angelo explores what it means to him personally to be from Los Angeles — he’s a key part of its culture, and in some ways he has triumphed over it and in other ways he is just a cog in it’s giant, never-ending machinery. Angelo Moore & the city of Los Angeles, are one and the same in many ways. It’s a long overdue ode to how the city has shaped him, and in turn, he has shaped the minds and thoughts of so many across the world.
Angelo wrote the song with his project the Brand New Step, while on the road, and recorded it with producers and collaborators Jim Greer & Kris Jensen in Berkeley, CA.
Lyrics
LA, Los Angeles, this town of lost angels, LA, it’s called
And as I look down from the guts of this heavy metal bird I’m in
I feel uninspired by facism and cops, I know down in the futuristic wild west the limitations and almost marshall law, robots with badges, and quick draw Mcgraw.
Just lights and gilder and garbage underneath and the raging oppressed with razor sharp teeth.
Los Angeles, we changed forever. We are one together. Gentrification in the city and the valley, we are one. I took it too far. In the city of stars and all the broken hearts. We are one. We are one
The 101 to the 405 to 5 to 2 the 118 beautiful bodies and the beautiful scars, motorcycles and lowrider cars, the museums and the amusement parks, sunset strip, the La Brea tar pits, To the beautiful Watts towers, Echo Park, to skid row, how low can you go.
When there’s nowhere to go. Let’s go downtown to the district of the arts, where the magical subculture happens after dark.
Los Angeles, Los Angeles it’s you or us. So, let’s take it slow. Breathing you in, we took it too far, in the city of stars. All the broken hearts tossed into the blender, brightly gildired as it slices you a piece of the pie, in the sky. Hollywood
It’s coming together, it's coming together, it’s coming together.
It’s coming together, it's coming together, it’s coming together.
It’s coming together, it's coming together, it’s coming together.