Sleeping on the Sidewalk

"Sleeping On The Sidewalk", written and sung by May, was inspired by Eric Clapton. It was recorded in one take. On close inspection, John Deacon can be heard playing the wrong notes in some bass parts. Brian May can also be heard laughing at the end of the song. Lyrically, it deals with an aspiring trumpet player's career, delivered in a "rags-to-riches" fashion. May sings with an American accent, providing some near-authentic blues credibility to the jam, and measures the aforementioned trumpet player's success by "bucks" (as opposed to pounds). It is also one of the few Queen songs that does not feature Mercury.

The reason the song is so aloof is due to the fact that the band was not aware they were being recorded at the time and were simply practicing, while the engineer had turned on the recording.


Album: News of the World
Released: 28 October 1977
Recorded: July-September 1977, Basing Street, Wessex
Genre: Hard rock
Label EMI, Parlophonem, Elektra, Hollywood (USA)
Producer: Queen

The song we have here is a cover by Los Lobos and this is included in the album Killer Queen, a tribute album of Queen songs. The album is named for the 1974 Queen song of the same name that first appeared on the Sheer Heart Attack album. The album peaked at #104 on the Billboard 200 on August 27, 2005. Later, it re-entered the Billboard 200 in April 2006 at #115 after American Idol (Season 5)'s Queen round.





I was nothin but a city boy
My trumpet was my only toy
Ive been blowin my horn
Since I knew I was born
But there aint nobody wants to know

Ive been
Sleepin on the sidewalk
Rollin down the road
I may get hungry
But I sure dont want to go home

So round the corner comes a limousine
And the biggest grin Ive ever seen
Come on sonny wont you sign
Right along the dotted line
What you sayin are you playin
Sure you dont mean me?

Sleepin on the sidewalk
Rollin down the road

I may get hungry
But I sure dont wanna go home

(tell you what happened. . .)

They took me to a room without a table
They said blow your trumpet into here
I played around as well as I was able
And soon we had the record of the year

I was a legend all through the land
I was blowin to a million fans
Nothin was a-missin
All the people want to listen
Youd have thought I was a happy man

And I was
Sleepin like a princess
Never touch the road
I dont get hungry
And I sure dont want to go home
(have to have some fun. . .)

Now they tell me that I aint so fashionable
An I owe the man a million bucks a year
So I told em where to stick the fancy label
Its just me and the road from here

Back to playin and layin
Im back on the game

Sleepin on the sidewalk
Rollin down the road
I sure get hungry and i
Sure do wanna go home
(yeah)