Hollywood Park

A73-581 was the number, they burned it in my brain
I could feel it in my veins
We could run, we could run, we could run
We were running away

And the fourteen dollars I made on the bus ride from Chino
I laid it on the third
He was due and I was due
For a change, for a change, I’m tired of living a lie

And they were writing their names up in the sky
And we would watch them as they brought the horses by
And I felt like I was ready to die
When the bell went off and the races would start at Hollywood Park

For fifteen years I had lived in a room with my heart on my sleeve
My throat dry from heaving the words:
You can change, you can change
If you’re ready to try

And we would laugh as the horses thundered by
And I would tip my brand new hat up to the sky
And nothing could come between you and I
As the horses ran wild through the dark at Hollywood Park

And when they tore it down, there was wrecking sound
And it rattled through my bones
And a cry went out through the streets that night
‘Cause we knew we’d lost our home

And there’s only the wreckage and this dirt still on my hands
And the roar of the ghosts as they stood up in the stands

Where do we go?
Who are all of these voices I’ve never heard?
And what becomes of us now?
Buried in concrete and broken earth

As I stare out from the highway at these miles and miles of graves
Under convenience stores and corner malls, all the countless roads they paved

I wonder if it’s lucky, or if you just forget the cost
Or the price of the admission for all endless bets you lost

In fifty years I will dream of this moment from a bed
Tired from lifting my legs, tired from drifting around
Through the dust, through the dust
In all the time that I would spend

But I never claimed I knew how this would end
Or the order of the horses at the bend
All I knew is I would be back again
And we’d stand here as the world fell apart

At Hollywood Park