Scenes From The Southside lyrics

It's coming any day said the captain

It's coming any day now cried the priest

The people in high places may defend you

But son you better hope they keep the peace

Can't you hear them calling

Can't you see them shine

The city halls are falling

The defenders drink their wine

And when the party's over

Their stomachs start to sag

Defenders, Defenders of the flag

A strong man feels weak in the still heat of the day

Nothing is black and white, just a hazy gray

There's a long lonesome sound in the distance calling back to me

You look for some small reward

Everybody wants a little more

You could be the one at my door

Someone I might've seen before

What I come here for

Everything comes and goes

You try to believe but you never know

I met a fan dancer down in southside Birmingham

She was running from a fat man selling salvation in his hand

She said he's tryin' to save me

But I'm doin' alright, the best that i can

Just a pair of fallen angels tryin' to get through the night

Step by step, one by one, higher and higher

Step by step, one by one, climbing Jacob's ladder

There's a man workin' in a field

See's the rain and it's burning

He's saying this can't be real

As he sees the color of the fields turning

Far away the men too busy getting rich to care

Close their eyes and let it all out into the air

Hoping nobody else would care

Look out any window

Look out any open door

Look out any window

See what's going on in the world around you

Walking on the sidewalk, roundball under my arm

Everybody knows how you play is who you are

Walking down the road, looking for a game or two

The real moves come through, no matter what they're gonna do

It's down to you

Take me to the old playground

Where the old ones rule, and the young ones do their time

Take me to the old playground

Where the talk is cheap

Down in the southwest Virginia town of Richlands

I fell in love with an Appalachian girl

She lived in a long line of little row houses

On the side of an old strip mining hill

She walked along on the jagged ridge

And looked as far as she could see

But the hills out there so up and down

You only see as far as the next big ridge

Everytime I see her face

What's the long face, whats all the crying for

Didn't you expect it when you opened your door

To the man with the long coat and the long list of victims

Everybody watching knows he's the one keeping score

>From where she sits, everyone stands in judgement

People watching as the curtain falls down

See the lights do a long slow fade...

Sometimes I lead sometimes I follow

This time I'll go where she wants me to go

She said maybe today maybe tomorrow

Go deep in the woods down the low valley road

While no one was lookin on the old plantation

He took her all the way down the long valley road

They sent her away not too much later

And left him walking down the old valley road

Walk on, walk on alone

Well I saw her one day

At the corner cafe

Everybody there knew she's a wonder

I sat there all night

Too shy to say

Honey you could keep me from going under

Oh my my when she walks on by

It's hard not to get lost in the view

How can you know if the feelings a lie

When love comes out of the blue

North, south, east, west

Up, down, all around and all the rest