Shell Game

Stumbled up the alley over tins and wires and broken boxes
Left for us to trip across
Another bunch of rotten bad luck, you can't win man, what'd I tell you?
Mucking hands can have a cost

First soaring then collision
Like my television, stories all end up the same
So we just drink deep, inhale, and cough
Move on before it wears off, are we smarter than this shell game?

I blinked

Up the street to Grand Avenue, end up at the water front
Where pollution's made the sky go black
Never trust the books and never screw the ones who don't deserve it
Slump let reflections play back

Watch soaring then collision
Like my television, stories all end up the same
So we just drink deep, inhale, and cough
Move on before it wears off, are we smarter than this shell game?

I'm not

It's no use kid, I can't stop bleeding
Take this old guitar, it's all I'm leaving
It's seen the Jersey pines, bright neon signs
And rode the Brighton line

I'll tell you what you're up against
It's the toughest fucking town I've ever seen
And you're going it alone, you're an outsider so
Keep your profile low