Care in the Community    

by Ralph McTell

There's a man riding the tube train
He's got voices in his head
One voice says get off at your stop
But he might get on instead
Another voice tells him it's time
Be ready to take a life
Another voice tells him he'll know when
In his pocket he handles a knife.

There's a woman who stands in a doorway
In a shop out on the Strand
A litany spills from her cracked lips
She hears but she don't understand.
Why are these dates so important?
Like a nun in her cell she repeats
As she stares through her mirrored reflection
At the world blurring past on the street.

You better take care in the community
The community better take care
There is no immunity
Everybody must bear his share.

Slowly a young girl comes down
From what she's had to do
To feel cradled in somebody's arms
Fixed for an hour or two
You see she's helping herself
Providing for what she needs
The community cares for itself it seems
It don't affect you or me.

It seems that the system is working
At least for you and me
Now that everyone is taking care in the community.

Chorus

There's a young man who hangs round the station
And he strides up and down as he talks
It's a one-sided conversation
And he's constantly checking his watch
Confused and so full of anger
Sometimes he thinks he'll explode
He's frightened of leaving these city streets
But he's even more scared of the road.

A bus pulls up at the station
Commuters clamber inside
The office is only just over the road
A two hundred metre ride
But this way they don't get hassled
By the beggars around Waterloo
One's only got so much compassion
And what can one person do?

Chorus