Artwork by New York Times best-selling author/artist, Kerby Rosanes in six-panel DVD packaging with six panel fold-out, glued-in artist booklet, detailing all album production credits, contributions, and dedications. We come from a time when music was an artifact of culture that preserved the very parts of ourselves that reminded us of what it meant to be human. We think that’s worth celebrating.
Includes unlimited streaming of Taking Back Tomorrow
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 7 days
edition of 50
Purchasable with gift card
$15USDor more
about
Detailing the impact of rape and sexual assault, Chuckie Campbell's song "Pretty Girls" tells the story of one central female character from early pre-teen to teenager to young adult who eventually murders her stepfather, the original perpetrator of her early rape trauma. The song is features the haunting vocals of FEEK that call out and tell us why, "pretty girls don't cry."
Accompanied by a Momento-like music video, the narrative is told in reverse from the day of the stepfather's murder. Pretty Girls is part of a three-part music video series. To place it in context, please watch this selection as one part of a Triptych with Love Leaves a Witness featuring Nicole Atkins and Smoke.
Video Credits:
-Video Produced and Directed by Denny Kremblas
-Video Treatment & Story by Chuckie Campbell and Denny Kremblas Creative
-Production Assistant: Chantal Michaux
-Key Grip: Kristine Assue
-Key Grip: Eugene Kennedy
-Casting: Chantal Michaux
Starring
Jasmine Collins
Chrissy Rodriguez
Patrick Heraghty
Filmed on site at Cobbs Landing in Dewittville, NY, located on Chautauqua Lake
lyrics
Chorus 1, Heidi Feek
Pretty girls, they don’t cry
Young men, they don’t die
Husbands, they don’t lie
And, pretty girls don’t cry
When pretty girls don’t get their way,
somebody’s gonna have to pay
Baby, do you ever wonder why
pretty girls don’t cry?
Verse 1, Chuckie Campbell
Her flawless, pretty face is
a dream of timeless mazes
staring back from her reflection
hazel eyes, she’s dark complected
secrets cast in mirrors
her absent father’s features
poison fruit of live forbidden
hips and breast and flowing hair
a preteen with a woman’s figure
drawn to men like magnetism
filling voids with male attention
lacking supervision
her mother goes out weekends
nights of heavy drinking
men exit while she’s sleeping
and she rarely hears them leaving
but one night a silent shadow drifting
stumbles on her bedroom enters
hand gigantic breach between her
while above, he stops to whisper this
Chorus 2, Heidi Feek
Pretty girls, they don’t cry
Young men, they don’t die
Husbands, they don’t lie
And, pretty girls don’t cry
When pretty girls don’t get their way,
somebody’s gonna have to pay
Baby, do you ever wonder why
pretty girls don’t cry?
Verse 2, Chuckie Campbell
Her flawless, pretty face is
her perfect imperfection
countless violations,
now she’s sixteen
dancing, drinking
work that, twerk that
grab your ankles
blur the depth
peel back the layers
dye the hair and pierce the navel
hide the hurt and put up walls
she learns to run and not to trust
black out love and deal with lust
numb with drugs or self destruct
an object to be used or touched
abuse her ‘til they use her up
abuse her ‘til they use her up
so when she learns she’s pregnant
she rubs her stomach restless
no father comes to claim it
her mother’s hugs and tight embraces
meet above and deep beneath her
hold her gently as she whispers this
Chorus 3, Heidi Feek
Pretty girls, they don’t cry
Young men, they don’t die
Husbands, they don’t lie
And, pretty girls don’t cry
When pretty girls don’t get their way,
somebody’s gonna have to pay
Baby, do you ever wonder why
pretty girls don’t cry?
Bridge, Heidi Feek
No I’m not wild with sorrow
No, I won’t be here tomorrow
I meant it when I said I'd love you true
but baby love isn’t bulletproof
Verse 3, Chuckie Campbell
Her flawless, pretty face is
a mask for inner hatred
she wanders lost and aimless
cursed, ashamed, and often vacant
never looked into her infant’s eyes
and saw her own reflection
instead she saw her absent father
and features of her rapist
never opened up to tell her mother
she was once molested
out of fear that she would blame her
for the countless indiscretions
never felt such waves of anger
as she closed our conversation
and described her mother’s husband
reaching in her daughter’s play pin
and I knew then what it meant to be her
why she cocked that loaded pistol
why aimed and pulled the trigger
why she teared up as she whispered this
Chorus 4, Heidi Feek
Pretty girls, they don’t cry
Young men, they don’t die
Husbands, they don’t lie
And, pretty girls don’t cry
When pretty girls don’t get their way,
somebody’s gonna have to pay
Baby, do you ever wonder why
pretty girls don’t cry?
credits
from Taking Back Tomorrow,
track released June 7, 2018
Written and performed by Chuckie Campbell for Sunsets and Silencers Music, Buffalo, NY.
Produced and mixed at True Blue Recording by Willie Breeding in Nashville, TN
Additional vocals and writing by Heidi Feek on “Pretty Girls”
Additional Guitar on “Pretty Girls” by Jeremy Fetzer of Steelism in Nashville, TN
Additional Strings on “Pretty Girls” by Mark Evitts in Nashville, TN
Additional recording and engineering done by Alan Dusel at Starfields Productions in Buffalo, NY and California Road Studios in Orchard Park, NY
Mastered by Kevin Peterson at The Mastering Palace in New York, NY
Album Artwork by Kerby Rosanes for Kerby Rosanes Doodle Art and Illustration in Manila, Philippines.
Chuckie Campbell is an American hip hop artist who lives in Buffalo, NY. Campbell commonly performs with a live band (drums,
keys, and a full horn section), to make for a dynamic, powerful, and eclectic approach to hip hop, filled with fluid instrumentation, lush musical arrangements, and heartfelt poetic nuance....more
This new EP from producer Fil Jackson will thrill fans of underground hip-hop with its dense atmospherics & a feature from rapper Lungs. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 4, 2023