OFF THE PAVEMENT!

**OFF THE PAVEMENT!** is a single by S. Reidy. The beat was created by RM Sounds. It was first played at Skate the Plaza on 09/08/23. It was released to Bandcamp on 10/13/23. On the same day, a music video for the song was released on Youtube. This music video was filmed at the final Mt. Reidy show. The song was released on other streaming services 10/17/23.

## Lyrics

```
Off the pavement, pour my heart into a type beat
Oklahoma boy, I'm never switching sides
My name ain't Lincoln Riley
Compromising isn't something I can comprehend
My heart is torn apart, that everything I start will come to end
Bend, break, ultimately just forget it
There's a lesson here, I reckon that you trash your adolescence
I said it and I meant it, X's on my hands
And understand I fit descriptions that are more than just aesthetic
My mug is warm, my spirit lifted on to higher planes
My love is long, my soul is trudging on to brighter days
My heart is safe, the mice in me are men
I paint the image of myself so all you bums will never get the chance
Sometimes I'm scared to be the bearer of the missiles
Don't think therapy can stop me holding guns to my ambitions
Even worse, my words could never put you in my mental
I guess sometimes healing hurts, and pain can really clear your vision
Grace me with the glimpses, save me from my senses
If morals fall apart then let me starve from my intention
Idly, I can be a vessel of retention
Muster seed situations, moving mountains how I've listened
Listen, where the hell is quit?
Cause hell if I know
Slept three hours on the street to rock a show in Colorado
The voices that I follow kills the past that I create
And I meditate to free me of my own selfish ways
What's the stakes? Cause I refuse to say I can't
No percentage of me snake cause I'm from Norman, not Durant

Ain't got no time to write a chorus
I'd still be writing poems if there were no one here to notice
Ain't got no time to write a chorus
I'd still be writing poems if there were no one here to notice

Man I feel like DJ Lucas, let me talk my talk
I represent this city, not the mayor, not the cops
My nana died, she said she's proud of me
But honestly, she never saw me blow up
And that kinda hurts an awful lot
To be so weary of your whereabouts
Really makes you narrow all the things you actually care about
And here and now won't be remembered
And I can't write a word that's gonna live until forever
Can you feel it in the moment?
When you're breathing, can you hold it?
Ain't got no time to write a chorus
I'd still be writing poems if there were no one here to notice
You take the beat away and all you got's a poet

```

## References

* Lincoln Riley was the Oklahoma University football coach from 2017 to 2021. The team had lots of success in his time as coach. Shortly after his departure from Oklahoma, Riley announced he has been hired as head coach at University of Southern California.
* At concerts, venue workers often mark the hands of underage attendees with X's as a signal to the bartender to not serve them alcohol. Straight edge punks began marking their own hands at shows to proclaim their sobriety. Shawn is sober and identifies with the straight edge movement.
* Of Mice and Men is a famous novel by John Steinbeck.
* Shawn often tours to Colorado.
* Durant is a city in southern Oklahoma.
* DJ Lucas is a hip-hop artist from Amherst, Massachusetts.
* Shawn has described himself as an Anarchist. Anarchism is critical of the existence of government, including mayors and police.

## Comments by Shawn

* "a poem of persistence, power, and presence" - via X, 11/13/23
* “I wrote that song about persistence and the will to continue. Getting yourself up off the ground and the first lines are a reference to an Earl Sweatshirt song where he says ‘Off the pavement/ brush the dirt off my psyche’ and that lyric always spoke to me a lot.” - Norman Transcript, 12/01/23

## Live Performances

* 09/08/2023 - Skate the Plaza (Live Debut)
* 09/16/2023 - The Deli - Video
* 09/20/2023 - 89th Street Collective

## Sources

1. ↑ https://sreidy.bandcamp.com/track/off-the-pavement
2. ↑ https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/s-reidy/2023/plaza-district-okc-oklahoma-city-ok-5ba30750.html
3. ↑ https://sreidy.bandcamp.com/track/off-the-pavement
4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g48Gm7oU4NQ
5. ↑ this was posted on instagram stories but can no longer be referenced
6. ↑ https://open.spotify.com/album/4J91imQZkpfdZCDcIbzkKS
7. ↑ https://img.youtube.com/vi/g48Gm7oU4NQ/maxresdefault.jpg
8. ↑ https://genius.com/S-reidy-off-the-pavement-lyrics
9. ↑ https://www.dailynews.com/2021/11/30/usc-hires-lincoln-riley-what-it-means-for-the-trojans-and-the-pac-12-hint-its-gargantuan/
10. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln\_Riley
11. ↑ https://timeline.com/straight-edge-movement-67544e6f8d88
12. ↑ https://www.britannica.com/topic/straight-edge
13. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight\_edge
14. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr5kqHFa9TI [44:55-45:15]
15. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of\_Mice\_and\_Men
16. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu9fLKFLKuU/?img\_index=1
17. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durant,\_Oklahoma
18. ↑ https://djlucas.bandcamp.com/
19. ↑ This was said at a show. I don't have any documentation. It's possible that Shawn has posted more about this in the past.
20. ↑ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anarchism/
21. ↑ https://twitter.com/sdotreidy/status/1724096034136015017
22. ↑ https://www.normantranscript.com/a-e-norman-s-worst-kept-secret/article\_d1822b86-8f9d-11ee-8e06-b718249fd39e.html
23. ↑ https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/s-reidy/2023/plaza-district-okc-oklahoma-city-ok-5ba30750.html
24. ↑ https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/s-reidy/2023/the-deli-norman-ok-73a14ac5.html
25. ↑ https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/s-reidy/2023/89th-street-collective-oklahoma-city-ok-53a30735.html