Avenues and Alleyways

Sleep like a baby,
My little lady.
Dream 'till the sunrise, creeps into your eyes,
Dream 'till the sunrise turns on the day.
In the avenues and alleyways,
While you sleep there’s a whole world coming alive.
Abel and his brother, fighting one another,
In and out of every dive.
The avenues and alleyways
Where the strong and the quick alone can survive,
Look around the jungle, see the rough and tumble,
Listen to a squealer cry.
Then a little later, in the morning paper,
Read about the way he died.
Wake up my pretty,
Go to the city.
Stay through the daytime, safe in the sunshine,
Stay 'till the daytime turns into night.
The avenues and alleyways
Where a man’s gotta' workout which side he’s on.
Anyway he chooses, chances are he loses,
No-one get’s to live too long.
The avenues and alleyways
Where the soul of a man is easy to buy,
Everybody wheelin', everbody dealin',
All of the low are living a high.
Every city’s got 'em, can we ever stop 'em?
Some of us. . are gonna try.