Having spent part of the last post writing about this “unavailable” selection from Peel’s 20/3/93 Radio 1 show and positing a theory from my notes that both Greener Pastures and the Not in Kansas Anymore LP were connected to The Wizard of Oz, this blog’s very only wizard, Webbie of the Keeping It Peel podcast has produced another rabbit from the hat and uploaded the track for us all to enjoy, taken directly from the broadcast of the 20th of March.
Peel confirms that Greener Pastures was part of a broader narrative within the album. I had initially felt that if it did have links to The Wizard of Oz, it was as a hip hop spin on Over the Rainbow. The factors which are making Michael Ivey consider, reluctantly, moving away - drive-by shootings, assaults/murders over trainers/T-shirts - are far more serious than those that Dorothy Gale had to put up with.
Having made the move, Ivey finds himself in a police lineup and confronted by his own version of Almira Gulch, with the implication being that if a black man moves to a quieter area, especially if it is a predominantly white one, they will find themselves at the centre of suspicion should anything happen in that place.
As the track fades out, I find myself with Peel in wondering what happens next.
Video courtesy of Webbie
No comments:
Post a Comment