Life and death in an alleyway
Just a heartbeat away from a man
Who's learned to turn his head away
From the pain that drains the land.
Harlem's not too far from here,
You can smell the garbage, feel the fear.
I hear they're gonna build a sky-scraper there,
As if we didn't need the extra air.

New York city blues,
In order to win, you gotta lose.
Old before your time,
The dirt and the grime
Get into everything.
And the papers love to say
It's the meanest town in the USA,
But I think it's OK, it's the town I've made my home.

On another side of Park Avenue
Respectable folks don't know,
Hungry eyes take in the view
Of the world that lays them low.
Too many years on a welfare line,
The old song and dance time after time,
You can only get so pushed around
Until you wanna tear the damn thing down.

New York city blues,
In order to win, you gotta lose.
Old before your time,
The dirt and the grime
Get into everything.
And the papers love to say
It's the meanest town in the USA,
But I think it's OK, it's the town I've made my home.

New York city blues,
In order to win, you gotta lose.
Old before your time,
The dirt and the grime
Get into everything.
And the papers love to say
It's the meanest town in the USA,
But I think it's OK, it's the town I've made my home.