Small Change: An Ode to Tom Waits

[Verse]
They couldn't work the case
Witnesses heard no words exchanged the day that Small Change got rained on with his own .38
When lurking birds of prey were perched on powerlines of First and Main
Watching the blood as it ran in a puddle that came from his body now turning to grey
And his favourite shirt was bathed and covered
Can hear the rumors percolate
While the newspaper vendor shouts of an upwards curve in the murder rates
Dirty faces gazed disgusted
Seeing every circle traced
Around all the shells that had fell on the ground that surround where the shooter had earned his name
But nothing really changes
Bootleggers and beggars lost in limbo
Sixteen stories up some kid with vertigo still washing windows
And the cops are wanting info
From the pimps and gutter birds
That always ask them for a cigarette and their badge numbers first
And the hustlers keep on hustling, pickpockets work the crowds
And shopkeepers with shadows are swinging their brooms to chase the vermin out
And the perverts' mouths are firmly closed but always twitch at the corners
Like all the fiends that'll swallow your seed as long as it means that they're getting a quarter
And this is a horrible place to raise anything, besides suspicion
All the passerbys look grim as violence hits a high statistic
And the walls of the city are looming
Getting out's a pricey ticket
Yeah home is where the heart is, but that don't make it nice to visit
'Cause the alley stinks like piss and liquor where the drunks all talk the same
So they all got a million stories about that one that got away
And the hail of bullets came but barely stained the curb that day
When Small Change got rained on with his own .38
That's right Small Change got rained on
Just go home, you're too late
They jerked it straight out of his hand, turned and aimed it at his face
The burst of flame licked his cheekbones, a bourbon bottle fell
And the jackals cackled madly to reserve their spots in hell