Paul Revere by Beastie Boys lyrics

Now here's a little story, I've got to tell
About three bad brothers, you know so well
It started way back in history
With Adrock, M.C.A., and me, Mike D.
Been had a little horsy named Paul Revere
Just me and my horsy and a quart of beer
Riding across the land, kicking up sand
Sheriff's posse on my tail cause I'm in demand
One lonely Beastie I be
All by myself, with nobody
The sun is beating down on my baseball hat
The air is gettin' hot, the beer is getting flat
Lookin' for a girl, I ran into a guy
His name is M.C.A., I said, "Howdy", he said, "Hi"


He told a little story, that sounded well rehearsed
Four days on the run and that he's dying of thirst
The brew was in my hand, and he was on my tip
His voice was hoarse, his throat was dry, he asked me for a sip
He said, "Can I get some?"
I said, "You can't get none!"
Had a chance to run
Pulled out his shotgun
Quick on the draw, I thought I'd be dead
He put the gun to my head and this is what he said,


"Now my name is M.C.A., I've got a license to kill
I think you know what time it is, it's time to get ill
Now what do we have here, an outlaw and his beer
I run this land, you understand, I make myself clear."
We stepped into the wind, he had a gun, I had a grin
You think this story's over but it's ready to begin


Now, "I got the gun, you got the brew
You got two choices of what you can do
It's not a tough decision as you can see
I can blow you away or you can ride with me" I said,
I'll ride with you if you can get me to the border
The sheriff's after me for what I did to his daughter
I did it like this, I did it like that
I did it with a whiffleball bat
So I'm on the run, the cop's got my gun
And right about now, it's time to have some fun
The King Adrock, that is my name
And I know the fly spot where they got the champagne."
We rode for six hours then we hit the spot
The beat was a bumping and the girlies was hot
This dude was staring like he knows who we are
We took the empty spot next to him at the bar
M.C.A. said, "Yippe Yo, you know this kid?"
I said, "I didn't.", but I know he did
The kid said, "Get ready cause this ain't funny
My name's Mike D. and I'm about to get money."
Pulled out the jammy, aimed it at the sky
He yelled, "Stick 'em up!", and let two fly
Hands went up and people hit the floor
He wasted two kids that ran for the door
"I'm Mike D. and I get respect
Your cash and your jewelry is what I expect"
M.C.A. was with it and he's my ace
So I grabbed the piano player and I punched him in the face
The piano player's out, the music stopped
His boy had beef, and he got dropped
Mike D. grabbed the money, M.C.A. snatched the gold
I grabbed two girlies and a beer that's cold.

3 Questions About Motown

1. Why was HDH not able to duplicate the chart topping success they had at Motown when they formed their own label?
- Although HDH were brilliant writers and producers on their own, they still suffered from a lack of charisma star performers. The Motown machine was able to produce stage ready stars by their first single; however HDH did not have the luxury of writing for polished performers with their new label. As a result, despite having mild short-term success, none of the artists on HDH’s new labels would come close to matching the careers of most Motown artists. Ultimately, without big name performers on their labels, HDH’s labels would eventually go out of business by 1974.

2. What was most responsible for HDH’s Motown success, why?
- HDH had some of the best performers in America singing their songs. Many of their songs were sung by superstars such as Diana Ross, The Supremes, and Marvin Gaye. Many other writers had similar success for the same reason. While the writing by HDH was very good, the songs could not be as successful as they were without the right artist. For example, Otis Redding’s “Respect” was a mild success but the song took off with Aretha Franklin’s rendition of it. Furthermore, the power that Motown wielded at the time ensured that their songs would be heard and available all around the nation. Every radio station and every record store would have the latest Motown records. HDH’s new label did not have this power and thus it was harder to reach a broad audience.

3. In the final analysis, do you think Motown would have had more hits had they kept HDH instead of firing them?
- ¬Although the key to Motown’s success was its artists, HDH was still an integral component of the Motown machine. Throughout their time with Motown, the team of HDH wrote 25 number one hits. However, HDH wasn’t the only successful writing team on the Motown staff. Surely without HDH, Motown would lose some hits but the label continued to be successful without the star writing trio. Once again, they relied on the star power of their performers, with many more number one hits coming from Diana Ross, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder. The slowdown in the frequency of number one hits can be attributed mostly to the breaking down of Motown itself. By this time, the label had become too big for Barry Gordy to micromanage. Gordy could no longer oversee and control every aspect of Motown and as a result, the quality began to drop.