Hip Hop Thighs #17 is track 4 on Ike Reilly's Salesmen and Racists CD. It's a rollicking good ballad. The folk origins of this song are given away by the rhythm guitar, but it has been powered up here into a rocker that bears a lot of resemblance to the WallFlowers or Tom Petty.

The song has plenty of musical references; Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Joe Strummer, The Clash, and The Pogues are all in attendance. As with most of Reilly's songs this is another biographical sketch. Ike doesn't necessarily try to paint himself in a good light - he just paints.

Reilly's phrasing is difficult to capture. I've tried to segment the lyrics the way I hear them. I transcribed these by listening to the CD and they should be fairly accurate -- but don't make any bets based on them. It's a short song, clocking in at 2:38.



Hip Hop Thighs #17

Hip hop has blown my mind
John Cash has done his time
When you
And I
Were in the weeds drinkin' wine

Well that English singer and your hip hop thighs
From Guns on the Roof
To the Acid Jazz
To the reels and rhymes of that Gaelic trash
Dancin' with the ex-lead singer of The Clash
Guns on the bar and his hands
On
Your Amer-
ican ass

Hip hop has blown my mind
John Cash has done his time
When you and I
Were into speed and drinkin' wine
And that singer thought that you was Patsy Cline

Now the local girl with those criminal thighs
Cheek to cheek in that three-four time
Tryin' to make lemonade from limes
But no limey ever made
Nothin' like
I want
tonight

John Cash has done his time
Hip hop has blown my mind
When you
And I were in the weeds drinkin' wine
I loved your soul
And I loved your mind

But I missed the lies
And the speed and wine
The bump 'n' grinds and your queasy smile
And the prize
That lies
Between
Your ....
Your hip hop thighs

Your hip hop thighs
Your hip hop thighs
Your hip hop thighs
Your hip hop thighs
Your hip hop thighs
Your hip hop thighs
Your hip hop thighs