[Verse 1]
It's kinda hard being a bum in this town
Where the kids run wild, running all around
We go by behind without a sound
And we all got stories to tell
Put a penny in the cup, you might hear us moan
I'm just a dollar short of catching the Grey Hound home
And God bless you sir, you won't see me no more
'Cause I'll be drunk behind the Jiffy store

[Chorus]
But I'm gonna get straight if it's the last thing I can bare
I'd get my life together if someone would care
And if I should die before my time is through
Tell all the people who I was
(Aye...)

[Verse 2]
On a bench, sour stench, clutchin' my booze
A pair of Swiss cheese socks and tore up shoes
Whiskey breath, dumpster chef, next to Taco Bell
I dropped my aspirations down a wishing well
Drunken stance, piss my pants, piano key teeth
All these things will blind you from the man beneath
I'm not a fool, I been to school, I've read Sun Tzu
You see, us bums are people too
[Verse 3]
So I'm back in jail, I can't make bail, I get my three square meals
Oh, how I've forgotten how a bed and pillow feels
I'll take a breath, there's nothing left, I lay my head, the Bible said
“To all those weary, I will give you rest”
Oh!

[Chorus]
But I'm gonna get straight if it's the last thing I can bare
I'd get my life together if someone would care
And if I should die before my time is through
Tell all the people who I was

[Interlude: Ronald Davis]
[…] is- is- is rough, and, uh, I mean I been sleepin' in [?], I've been sleepin' under the bridges, I've been sleepin' in the little cardboard boxes, and stuff. You know, just survivin'.​ Especially in the wintertime, it's the hardest time.​ And like, uh, I'll go out to fill applications for a job and stuff; they look at me, you know, and I'm like- I'm like, lookin' unpresentable.​
And then they, "well, we'll call you. Leave a number," but how can I leave a number when I don't have a phone? It's really humiliating to be shakin' a cup 24 hours a day, and people just look at you like you're some kind of a bum, you know what I'm sayin'?
I mean, I have had people who walk past me that say, "get a job, bum."
And I say, "wait a minute, I'm not a bum, I'm a human being."

[Verse 4]
On the streets, where I sleep, Bullet is my name
You see, I lost my wife and child, and the whiskey is to blame
So I've been preaching gospels to the crazies on the curb
Among all these people, I'll achieve my fame
'Cause I can't get a job 'cause the dirt on my face
I can't find no food or a resting place
I ain't a bad guy, Lord knows I try
And I'll probably rot here in the alley where I die
[Chorus]
I'm gonna get straight if it's the last thing I can bare
I'd get my life together if someone would care
And if I should die before my time is through
Tell all the people who I was
I'm gonna get straight if it's the last thing I can bare
I'd get my life together if someone would care
And if I should die before my time is through
Tell all the people who I was