Emerald Street

Pregnant teens on the Barton street bus
Homeless people living off crust
And there's a beat-up town car, it's starting to rust
Hard soles are kicking up dust
Half a million people living in the corpse of the brown brick 50's
To the north, all the small town outcasts are now big city bourgeoisie

All the boys in the halfway houses
Wave to the girls of Emerald Street

Our calloused fingers, blood red on the brick, but we hold on (hold on)
We'll never falter, though they want us to slip, we hold on (hold on)

The desperate, downtown stealing bikes
Drunks in the village are picking fights
So, police like the streets to read them their rights
No controlling hot summer nights
The sun goes down on the edge of town, at the end of everyday
We sit and watch the stacks on fire, to the east across the bay

All the boys in the halfway houses
Wave to the girls of Emerald Street

Our calloused fingers, blood red on the brick, but we hold on (hold on)
We'll never falter, though they want us to slip, we hold on (hold on)

There's something in the church belfry
On the corner of Victoria and king
And it screams out into the night
It sings this city's plight

All the boys in the halfway houses
Wave to the girls of Emerald Street

Hold on, hold on

Our calloused fingers, blood red on the brick, but we hold on (hold on)
We'll never falter, though they want us to slip, we hold on (hold on)