Life and death in an alleyway
Just a heartbeat away from a man
Who's learned to turn his head away
From the pain that drains the land
Harlem's not too far from here
You can smell the garbage, feel the fear
I hear they're gonna build a sky-scraper there
As if we didn't need the extra air

New York city blues
In order to win, you gotta lose
Old before your time
The dirt and the grime
Get into everything
And the papers love to say
It's the meanest town in the USA
But I think it's OK, it's the town I've made my home

On another side of Park Avenue
Respectable folks don't know
Hungry eyes take in the view
Of the world that lays them low
Too many years on a welfare line
The old song and dance time after time
You can only get so pushed around
Until you wanna tear the damn thing down
New York city blues
In order to win, you gotta lose
Old before your time
The dirt and the grime
Get into everything
And the papers love to say
It's the meanest town in the USA
But I think it's OK, it's the town I've made my home

New York city blues
In order to win, you gotta lose
Old before your time
The dirt and the grime
Get into everything
And the papers love to say
It's the meanest town in the USA
But I think it's OK, it's the town I've made my home