Ahhhh, a refreshing break from politics 🙂
Sweet memories of my old hometown.
music & lyrics by Annika Vitolo © 2009
Stepping on the cracks in the sidewalk
Ain’t worried ’bout no bad things happening to me
Ain’t looking back at where I been. Just where I want to beI was just a kid. I didn’t know what I wanted
He was just a kid. I left him brokenheartedWould he wait, would he wait, would he wait for me?
Yeah. Would he wait for me?Everything I’ll ever need I found, on the streets of Brooklyn
I’m coming back around
This place is home and it’s got him
It took some time to find my way
Go tell him that I’m here to stay.
On the streets of Brooklyn.The scenery has changed
This place has gotten more run down
Passed the places we used to hang
I’d smile when he’d come aroundWe’d walk the avenue, holding hands and laughing
Somehow I always knew
I’d come on back to where it all beganDid he wait for me? Yeah. Did he wait for me?
Everything ‘ll ever need I found, on the streets of Brooklyn
Hell I’m not backing down
I’m gonna keep on looking for him
Ain’t nothing getting in my way
I’m gonna get him back somedayEverything I need to know
I learned on the streets of Brooklyn
I left a long long time ago
But my heart stayed here with himEverything I’ll ever need I found on the streets of Brooklyn
I’m coming back around
This place is home and it’s got him
I hope it’s not too late for me
I wonder did he wait for me?He’s leaning on my old front gate
Turns to me, says you’re pretty late
Whouda thought you’d take this long to get ready for our date?
Of course I’d wait, on the streets of Brooklyn.
So glad he stayed. On the streets of Brooklyn.
Stealth Magnolia 
All I can say is that I cried while watching this…..it’s true…Brooklyn never leaves your heart or your soul.
I HAVN’T LIVED IN BROOKLYN FOR 50 YEARS, THIS TRULEY SWELLED MY HEART. THANK YOU
Thank you John! So glad you enjoyed the song & video. I’ve been truly touched by people’s responses to it.
{{hugs}} Brooklyn,youse guys! Thanks for stopping by 🙂 I found this lovely video on the Facebook, wait for it, Brooklyn!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brooklyn-NY/Brooklyn/21225127071?__a=4
She’s a very talented lady indeed, we’re lucky to have her 🙂
I wish you the best. Keep on making music. I live in Colorado and have for many years. Brooklyn made me who I am today Even though I live in the mountains of Colorado in a place I only imagined growing up not a day goes by that I do not use the “Brooklyn edge” in my life. Seeing your video and hearing your song opened so many memories in my heart and mind. Thank You Annika
Thanks so much for your sweet comments Michael! So glad you enjoyed the song & video!
I am from Brooklyn. I love Brooklyn. When I was a kid I wanted to move to Manhattan.I could not aford it . Then I grew . I work and lived most of my life in both Brooklyn and Manhattan . I never stoped loveing Brooklyn. I knew that I would never live in Manhattan . The knewing of this made me happy. I knew a lot of people who sill think oh if you live in NY . Has to be Manhattan . They just don’t know . I with my parner of 21 years . Moved to Tucson AZ. He needed not to see winter anymore . So to move here I sold my home in Brooklyn . I have so much . I have a good home . A good job. A person who loves me for me (still after 21 year) This is the silly part . I am here by three years . There are few days that go by that I do not miss Brooklyn . Silly to have to much and to miss a place that much. I will be back home some day . Like your songs says I just hope it not to late for me . I would not wish a bad thing to happen to my parner ,but if the time comes that I am alone here in Tucson . Would take a 100 bad days in Brookly to one good one here in Tucson . That is Brooklyn love . Loved you song , love the vid . Thanks Rob
Hi Rob,
Come on back to Brooklyn! If only for a short visit…… Thanks so much for you r sweet comments, & so glad you enjoyed the song & video.
I was born and raised in Brooklyn on E.35th Street between Glenwood Road and Ave H. It was great playing on the street as a child and attending St. Vincent Ferrer and later high school in Bay Ridge. Dad had his business for 40 years on Flatbush and Rogers Ave. My brother and I rode the subway or bus to Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Museum or the Botanic Gardens. Rode the Cyclone and Parachute Jump and ate hot dogs in Coney Island. Ate at Lundy’s in Sheepshead Bay often. Almost drowned as a kid at Rockaway Beach. Now I live in beautiful Marin County, Ca. but relish my Brooklyn memories and am always proud to say I’m a Brooklynite. What characters we are from Brooklyn. Loved your son, Annika. Keep on truckin!
Susan
Brooklyn memories are forever! So glad you liked the song Susan!
You can take the girl out of Brooklyn, but…….you know the rest! Great pix, great voice, great urban poetry….
Wow, what an awesome thing to say. “Urban poetry”….. I love that. Thanks so much Madalyn!
I grew up in Brooklyn and go back from time to time. The new Brooklyn is very different from my childhood and yet is still very exciting. Your music is wonderful and if I close my eyes – I have my old Brooklyn back once again.
Thanks so much Janet! So glad you liked the song/video!
i lived in brooklyn all my life williamsburg love it here and will never forget growing up there…song is great photos are awsome thanks for the memories
I loved growing up in Brooklyn too. Thanks Daniel for your sweet comments. So glad you liked the song & photos.
Annika…..just viewed your video, and it was fabulous. I’m a long time resident of Brooklyn, and you’re right, it never leaves you, no matter where you go, or where you live. Wish I could have been involved in your video. I’m a photographer, and I have plenty of shots you could have used. Keep in mind, if you do another one.
All the best,
Charley
Thanks so much Charley, I surely will keep that in mind. I clicked on your name & it took me to some amazing photos you took. Incredible! So glad you enjoyed the song & video.
Seeing the Verrazano makes my heart beat increase.
We live in Long Beach, Ca now but Brooklyn is still part of our lives.
I went to PS 127, McKinley JHS and Ft Hamiltion HS.
Our parish was St Ephrem’s.
We left Brooklyn because the bridge came right thru our block, 79th and Ft Hamilton Pkwy.
If not for that I might still be there.
I miss a slice, a decent piece of crusty bread, a nice pastry or Junior’s cheese cake and italian ice too.
I doubt we can ever go ‘home’, it just won’t be the same.
This brought me to tears! Thanks so much for the wonderful memories and your song touched my heart..
I grew up on 86th and 20th ave, Bensonhurst and my heart will be forever there, we moved to to Li in 1965 and it was the worst day of my life I was 15 and every chance I got I took the LI RR back to see my friends, after a year or so made new friends but my heart and soul and attitude is Brooklyn Forever..
Thanks
Karen
Thanks Karen for your sweet comments. Once from Bklyn, always from Bklyn!
I left a dirty overcrowded,old Bklyn 40 years ago. Now it is older, and more overcrowded and still dirty.I never shed a tear nor looked back in regret moving out of the boros. The memories that I have of Brownsville are one that can never be recreated – ones of love and security with neighbors who watched out for you. If you are looking for that kind of life then leave for the suburbs – grass,trees, open space, and sunlight await you. Thomas Wolf once wrote “You Can’t Go Home Again” – sad but true.
I have been a Brooklynite for 44 years and I dont intend to leave. I just want to say Thank you for this reminder to those who have left Brooklyn. I love being able to relate to places that I have been to. Whenever there is a movie based in Brooklyn, I usually try to find places that I have been to. Thanks again for this.
I don’t know when you lived in Brooklyn but this isn’t the Brooklyn I grew up in. I see a lot of graffiti here and it has no resemblance to the terrific Brooklyn from the 1940s to 1960s. I thought I’d see something nostalgic. I showed it to my kids and had to turn down the music which took something away from it. Sorry, but this video is way too harsh and not representative of when Brooklyn was nice. There are far better ones on youtube. I guess if you’re 20 or 30 this would be ok.
Annika, just viewed the video that was emailed to me by a friend.
I choked up and had tears in my eyes.
It’s not the Brooklyn that I grew up in,30’s—
(Kingshighway Coney Island Ave.) I left in 1970.
The streets are the same but the stores and shopping have changed.Things change but thank God for memories.
Yes “Thanks For The Memories”.
Just remember you can take the kid out of Brooklyn but you can’t take Brooklyn out of the kid.
The main thing is that it’s still BROOKLYN
BTW: I’ve got a time machine,It’s called Sirius Radio.
I’m tuned in to the 40’s-70’s.
thank you
your song, and the pictures you chose to illustrate with, can best be described as follows:
you have captured the wind.
again, thank you, from here in the swamps of brooklyn
Charlie, thank you for that touching comment. Much appreciated.
I grew up & raised my 3 children in sheepshead bay.
I now live in south florida, but will always have fond memories of my years in brooklyn.
p.s.206,shellbank jhs, & james madison hs.
I cried and my heart swelled with sadness and joy and a roller coaster life of such love spent growing up in Brooklyn recalled while watching your beautiful, visual and musical honoring it. So many powerful memories were relived and because they’re from my past and were so big and rich I want to run out to the streets and turn everything up. Life is precious and life is short but if you have a taste of Brooklyn in yours, you’re fuller than most. Thank you for your art and music and vision. They moved me big time and touched my heart. God bless you Annika Vitolo.
Your new friend,
Marty
“Life is precious and life is short but if you have a taste of Brooklyn in yours, you’re fuller than most. ”
Marty, that was such a beautiful sentiment. I hope Annika peeks in on this thread again to read and comment to the people she’s touched. (the cranky ones too!)
I was born in Brooklyn and left over 50 years ago. Funny, Brooklyn never left me 🙂 Now I know why !
Marty, your comments moved me so much. THANK YOU. I can’t begin to tell you how happy & honored it makes me to know that my work evoked such emotion. I’ll remember your words always. Best, Annika
Marty, I replied to Denise’s comment below yours by mistake. It was meant for you instead, please see 🙂
What a great song! I loved the video, and was really moved by it. It is true — Brooklyn IS an experience, – an unforgettable one, and I feel richer for having lived most of my life here.
I enjoyed the music and the pic’s it brought me back a few mins. of heaven oh ConeyIsland what a miss!!!!!!!!!! love it all thanks so much.
DeniseVB, thank you so much for what you said about what I wrote about Annika Vitolo’s song “Streets of Brooklyn”. You know you write things because an emotion has moved you and it’s such a thrill to get a response of the same magnitude back. That meant a lot to me. Thank you very much.
Annika Vitolo, sweet thing that you are, I got both your messages, the one you sent to Denise that you meant for me and the other one explaining that. What can I say? I am the one who is honored that I got a response from an artist of your caliber. That I could have moved you as you moved me locks us forever in something I can only describe as beautiful. I love that you said you’ll remember my words always, for I will remember the feelings you evoked in me forever as well and every time I listen to your song I will get the same tears in my eyes and the same chills up and down my spine. Isn’t life incredible? Thank you again and let’s hear more!
As my husband always said to me “you can take the girl out of Brooklyn, but never Brooklyn out of the girl.
Thanks for this wonderful video on Brooklyn. I truely enjoyed watching it.
Annika, I just viewed your video and have been catching my breath and weeping since scene1. Born in Brooklyn in 51 and stayed till 84. You touched on so many of my favorite places…Randazzo’s, Avenue U, downtown. I walked across that bridge in Sheepshead Bay 1000 times and would buy fish off the docks and carry them home on a bus wrapped in newspaper..All my good Italian friends were from Bensonhurst. You made my night girl and I will share this with many friends who will appreciate it. I was wondering your age and if you are still there..
Brooklyn was a great place to grow up..wouldn’t trade my experiences for anything.
‘ll
Thanks for taking the time to do this…and if you ever want to do another, I’ t would be a blast to ride around with you and do the photography for you.
You take care now
Thank you Mary for your wonderful comments, you made me smile! I appreciate you sharing the vid with your friends as well. In response to your questions, I’m 42 and now live in NJ but think of Brooklyn often and how amazing it was growing up there.
great there is no place like the place u grew up in e.n.y bkyyn 1941 how about next time some sanitation men working or a supervisor given out a parkink ticket just great……………….