Bobby Womack | "Across 110th Street"

[Deleted]

One of my favorites by Bobby. Title track from the soundtrack to the movie of the same name. Peaked at #19 on Billboard's Best Selling Soul Singles chart in 1973.

[Dreams]

Definition of a classic.
The strings MAKE that chorus. And I love the lyrics, too.

[God]

[#LisaRinna]

[Jay D83]

Definitely my favorite from him. I LOVE his delivery on it.

[Deleted]

#68 on Pitchfork's 200 Best Songs of the 1970's

The best moments in the fruitful relationship between blaxploitation movies and soul music came when the auteurs making the scores were inspired to be more sweepingly cinematic than usual. Before he wrote and recorded the soundtrack to the underrated street drama Across 110th Street, Bobby Womack wrote intimate, personal songs designed for nightclub stages and bedrooms—sites of close-range communication. However, on this theme song, he delivers an acrobatic vocal performance from a God’s-eye perspective.

With his head in a cloud of glistening orchestral strings and his feet planted firmly in greasy funk, Womack can see all of Harlem, and he cries out at the trouble being sown there by pushers and pimps. “Hey brother, there’s a better way out/Snorting that coke, shooting that dope man you’re copping out,” he sings. “Take my advice, it’s either live or die/You’ve got to be strong, if you want to survive.” The proto-rap talk-singing of his verses would eventually become an influence on hip-hop, and “Across 110th Street” would go on to be his most sampled song, infusing dozens of later works with a taste of its soaring, soulful drama. –Miles Raymer