Lawless Avenues

Intro /u>   u>          verse 1   Papa hit him Mama kissed him   Made him go to Catechism   With the sisters in their black and white                And all the time those city streets   Were teaching him another kind of wisdom   When to run and when to fight                            Up at the playground after school      Listening to tales of the prison system                And those lawless avenues                                Dawn on a half darkened street                           A child’s footsteps repeat                               And something there turns them   Down those lawless avenues                             verse 2   Silent Joe went down so bad   He was the strongest fighter the avenues had   Stabbed in the chest--he went down swinging              Someone from some other part of town   No one even seen it coming down   And you don’t hear no church bells ringing               And in the violent night the police light   Sweeps across the lots and the yards     Following those lawless avenues                          Down on a half darkened street                           Armies advance and retreat                               And struggle to take control   From those lawless avenues                             verse 3   Manuelito’s sister Rosa   Ran away with a surfer from Hermosa   Manuelito cuida a Rosa   Hay mira como estan las cosas!                           But who could blame her after she saw   Every boy die who could have gotten close to her   Rosa es joven u solo quiere   Ver la belleza del mundo   Manuel said-- "You gotta fight for what you want in this life"   Just before they shipped him overseas to ’Nam   Otra guerra sin razon   Otra guerra sin fin sin honor   And she was fighting to understand   When they shipped Manuelito’s body home   All she heard was-  one more shot   Echoing down lawless avenues Bridge   Hoy amigo   tal igual como ayer   La lucha en el barrio no cambia   Nuestros hijos son los que han de crecer   Por ley de la calle viviendo entre abrazos   Y chingazos                                                           Down on a half darkened street                          Fathers’ and sons’ lives repeat                         And something there turns them   Down those lawless avenues                            Outro                                                     Down on a half darkened street   (En el calor de la calle)   Down on a half darkened street   (Buscan valor en la calle)   Down on a half darkened street   (Hasta final de la calle) ...