[Verse 1]
In the heat of the summer
When the pavements were burning
The soul of a city was ravaged in the night
After the city sun was setting

[Verse 2]
Now no one knows how it started
Why the windows were shattered
But deep in the dark, someone set the spark
And then it no longer mattered

[Verse 3]
Down the street they were rumblin'
Bricks were heavily flyin'
Oh where, oh where are the white silver tongues
Who forgot to listen to the warnin's?

[Verse 4]
Drunk with the memory of the ghetto
Drunk with the lure of the looting
With the memory of the uniforms shoving with the sticks
Askin', "Are you looking for trouble?"

[Verse 5]
"No, no, no," moaned the mayor
"That's not the way of the order
Stay in your homes, please leave us alone
We'll be glad to talk in the morning"
[Verse 6]
"For shame, for shame," wrote the papers
"Why the hurry to your hunger?
Now the rubble is resting on your broken streets
And you see what your rage has unraveled"

[Verse 7]
And when the fury was over
Shame was replacing the anger
So wrong, so wrong, but we've been down so long
And we had to make somebody listen

[Outro]
In the heat of the summer