STANDING DOWN IN NEW YORK TOWN

Ralph McTell

Hey, buddy, can you spare me some change?
Me and my lady trying to get back to Detroit
They’re ripping off the customers and tearing the buildings down.
The ship seems to be sinking, and everyone’s moving out.

Chorus: But maybe it’s just the way I feel
For some have been so kind
Maybe it’s just that I’m far from home
And you, and you and you, been on my mind.

Faces in the ? while the sirens were screaming
Disturbing the dreaming I had without sleep
Hustlers on the back (?) taking every cent I got
So it’s dollars for the ? to give my mind some ease.

Chorus

Someone has bled an angry slogan on the wall
Just across the street from my luxury hotel
And the letters are so big that from close up you can’t read them
But I’m high up in  my room and can read them very well.

Chorus

Hopalong, the Bowery Boys, and all my cowboy heroes
Saturday morning pictures memories floating in the air
“Give my regards to Broadway” said a gray-faced statue
Who was obviously stoned to be standing in that square.

Chorus