Back On The Street

  They tell me I've paid back the debt I owed
  Forty-four months since the slammer door closed
  They give me a suit and put me back on the road
  And my thoughts are racing
  Where do I go? What am I supposed to live on?
  What happens when the twenty-five dollars is gone?
  That leaves me lots of time to wonder why I was born
  But the countdown is on

  Everybody's dancing
  The music sounds entrancing
  But you can't find the beat
  It's the ticking of a thousand human time bombs
  Who are back on the street

  Oh the names have been changed
  But the story's the same
  History will repeat
  Add it all up and then divide it by zero
  'Cause you're back on the street

  I can't stand the strain of this job no more
  I must have forgot what I took it on for
  I make lots of money, yet still I want more
  And my head is blazing
  I think that I'll check out the shops downtown
  Sometimes it helps to buy things when I feel brought down
  At this hour I might dodge those hippie low-life's around
  But the countdown is on

  Once you had to stand out
  Looking for a handout
  Free love and body heat
  And that money's just a crumpled green ball in your pocket
  When you're back on the street

  Back on the street again
  Said you're back on the street again
  The countdown is on
  And nobody knows when

  Spreading like a cancer
  Looking for the answer
  In everyone you meet
  And each in his way has a hustle to play
  When he's back on the street