Story Behind The Song

My group, "Matt Davis' Aerial Photograph" performs in and around Philadelphia regularly. Currently, the group is completing a year long residency project called "City of Philadelphia, 2008 . Each month in 2008, I interview different populations of Philadelphia residents and write new music about them and their experiences. Then the whole ensemble rehearses this music, records it, and performs it at a local music venue, called the Tritone in Philadelphia. Audio clips from the interviews are woven into each composition. Each month the recorded music is released as a hand-made, limited run album. Only 30 copies are made. In January of 2008 the music was inspired by elderly people in Philadelphia - it was called "City of Age"; February was about people with drug addictions and drug recovery - "City of Addiction"; March explored the immigrant population in Philadelphia - "City of Arrivals"; April was all about children - "City of Youth", etc. This track is from "city of youth".

Song Description

I took a children's song and tried to apply it to a different feel - I live in Philadelphia where we suffer from a high murder rate - roughly 400 people are murdered on the streets here ever year, including kids. This song tries to reflect some of the stories and experiences of this situation. The audio clip at the end is me interviewing several children in West Philly.