Gerry Weems offered a robust guitar part for this medium-paced song that sparked up the LP with a song similar to what Ian knew from his past. Chris Stanton played bass on this one track in a style reminiscent of Joe Cocker's With a Little Help From My Friends. This song although not American and autobiographical seems similar to Hunter's British upbringing since he too had a restless youth. The Little Italy son is leader of the gang. He is part of the criminal element and becomes a hit man but his life is ended by a policeman. Ian's observation on America addresses the juvenile delinquency that he observed as a newly transplanted emigrant. Ian notes that it probably came from a newspaper story of the time and he was labeled "hostile" on a school report; he still has the report.
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Restless Youth
(Ian Hunter)
He's much the same as anyone - He don't do what he's told
He got hostile on his school report - and he leaves his mother cold
His father owned a bakery - one day they found him hanged
It ain't good to be free in Little Italy - his son's the leader of the gang
CHORUS
RESTLESS YOUTH - RESTLESS YOUTH
RESTLESS YOUTH - RESTLESS YOUTH
He soon found out he could not work - the money was no good
This child of the city hit the welfare kitty - did some runnin' for the hoods
And the logic of the street was such - that everything was bent
There's a lot of white collars - stealing government dollars - wouldn't notice
such a little percent.
CHORUS
Now I went to his graduation - in some Brooklyn overnight jail
He said he was a member of the rock'n roll nation -
but his face was drawn 'n pale
They gave him a suspended sentence - 'n he got straight on the phone
Called a big, big, man with a Miami tan 'n said
"Hi I'm Al Capone - the 2nd Restless Youth"
CHORUS
Now his first hit came at seventeen - his second was his last
Some dealer ran screaming from the scene - as the bullets whistled past
'N the cop that killed him shook his head 'n said "I swear the truth
When I know it was some old, old man 'n not a restless youth."
CHORUS
Now the moral of this story is that all he saw was greed
Legal, illegalities 'n all them politician thieves
Good people of the U.S.A. if you want your kids to grow
Then check your harvest carefully - Don't reap; before you sow
CHORUS
Restless Youth | 6:17 | Originally issued on All American Alien Boy. |