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Walking the streets of my hometown,
Don't need a river of water to drown;
Two times up, three times down,
Walking the streets of my hometown.
The lights in the taverns are shining bright,
Mommy and Daddy are dancing tonight;
Tomorrow is bingo, the next night darts,
Nobody knows where the children are.
I walk by the school but the doors are barred,
Empty gymnasium sits in the dark;
Inside it's warm, outside it's cold,
It's hard to be young, can't wait to be old.
Walking the streets of my hometown,
Don't need a river of water to drown;
Two times up, three times down,
Walking the streets of my hometown.
Hiding in the dark, the gang smokes dope,
Chews bubble gum before they go home;
It's hard to be good when it's fun to be bad,
I wonder how much more I can stand.
Young Billy, he's dead, he died last year,
Good looking kid, long curly hair;
The papers all said that a boy died young,
But the kids all know it was suicide.
Walking the streets of my hometown,
Don't need a river of water to drown;
Two times up, three times down,
Walking the streets of my hometown.
My brother, he's gone, he left last year,
Nothing for him to do around here;
I wish he was home but I'm glad he's gone,
I'll be gone, too, before too long.
Mama don't know me daddy don't care,
Twelve years old and I'm drinkin' beer;
They don't wanna know, they don't wanna see,
Can't blame themselves, might as well blame me.
Walking the streets of my hometown,
Don't need a river of water to drown;
Two times up, three times down,
Walking the streets of my hometown.
Note: A variant without the last verse (Mama don't know) was also sung as a duet by Derek Pilgrim & Roy Payne (This Is My Island, trk#9, 1997).
