From the recording (anatomy of) The Street Where You Live
This song is part of a series called "Edifice Complex," written during an artist residency in Seaside Florida. The music on "Edifice . ." explores land-use and urban planning through several melodic lenses--"(anatomy of)The Street Where You Live" even brings a clarinet to the search.
The lyrics in this song are embedded with all sorts of planning and zoning sociologicals and anthropologicals--NIMBY makes an appearance; I had a traffic engineer wax enthusiastic about the mention of street width and traffic flow in verse one. All of this (and more--check out the full set on iTunes) comes from several years of working with a planning consultant while I was on city counsel, not to mention years of attending classes and conferences on any and everything related to living on urban land.
All of which to say--this song is not about any particular place. It's about any place. Every place. Every imperfect little town that we work to make better.
Lyrics
(anatomy of)The Street Where You Live
c2009
Just enough shade just enough light
Just enough room for the neighbors in the middle of a hot summer night
Just enough room for a car to pass But it has to slo-ow down
Perfect little street perfect little spot perfect little town
Just enough them just enough us
Just enough I got what I need you got what you need—so don’t fuss!
Just enough Not In My Backyard So it has to slo-ow down
Perfect little street perfect little spot perfect little town
early morning in a bathrobe going for the paper
kids are on the way to carpool-wave at the neighbor
Just enough shade (canopy) just enough light (density)
Just enough room for the neighbors
in the middle of a hot summer night (community)
Just enough room for a car to pass
but it has to slo-ow down
Perfect little street perfect little spot perfect little town
Just enough them (diversity) just enough us (security)
Just enough I got what I need
you got what you need--don’t fuss! (economy)
Just enough Not In My Backyard
so it has to slo-ow down
Perfect little street perfect little spot
perfect little town