| Born in a brothel
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| And thrown from my slave ship
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| Drink from a bottle
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| Smashed on a pavement
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| South Side Chicago
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| Breeds generations
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| Drop on down, kiss the ground
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| Zero raised in
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| Bricks rain down on sidewalks
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| Children rain from projects
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| Strobe light over low lights
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| Pistol flashes through old fishing nets
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| Siren only sings one song
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| And can’t sing nothing new
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| Look out son, rooftop perch
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| Like gargoyles for the view
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| Sandman asks the ladies for kisses
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| As they walk on by
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| Then asks the men for smokes
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| He can’t see the evil eye
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| Rises crippled bicycle
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| Across broken factory lots
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| Makes his bed with daily news
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| And whatever else he’s got
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| Steps of hollow heels
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| Echo off the vacant walls
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| The lovers only scream their demons
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| If they speak at all
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| The barber chase’s him deadbeat
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| Out his store front with a razor
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| The sooner he gets payback
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| The sooner we’ll be safer
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| It’s a cold, cold city and a long way down
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| It’s a cold, cold city and it’s a long way down
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| It’s a cold, cold city, it’s a long way down
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| The city’s getting colder as I make by my house
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| The longest night I lived through
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| And the day would never come
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| The train car pushed and pulled us strangers
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| Beneath them city slums
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| Man got on, said his plead
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| Passed around a hat
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| When it came to me I told him
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| Wish I’d thought of that
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| Virgin Mary oil spills
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| Is where bootleggers bow
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| You’ve already said too much
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| Across your tilted brow
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| The woman giving birth
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| In the gypsy cab, she’s crazy
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| She pulled a blade out on the driver
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| Told him to do 80
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| They say it’s a cold, cold city and it’s a long way down
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| It’s a cold, cold city and it’s a long way down
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| It’s a cold, cold city, it’s a long way down
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| The city’s getting colder from what I found |