It's kinda hard being a bum in this town

Where the kids run wild, running all around

We go by behind without a sound

And we all got stories to tell

Put a penny in the cup, you might hear us moan

I'm just a dollar short of catching the Greyhound home

And God bless you, sir, won't see me no more

'Cause I'll be drunk behind the Jiffy store

But I'm gonna get straight if it's the last thing I can bare

I'd get my life together if someone would care

And if I should die before my time is through

Tell all the people who I was

(Aye)

On a bench, a sour stench, clutchin' my booze

A pair of Swiss cheese socks and torn up shoes

Whiskey breath, dumpster chef, next to Taco Bell

I dropped my aspirations down a wishing well

Drunken stance, piss my pants, piano-key teeth

All these things will blind you from the man beneath

I'm not a fool, I been to school, I've read Sun Tzu

You see, us bums are people too

So I'm back in jail, I can't make bail, I get my three square meals

Oh, how I've forgotten how a bed and pillow feels

I take a breath, there's nothing left, I lay my head, the Bible said

"To all those weary, I will give you rest," oh!

But I'm gonna get straight if it's the last thing I can bare

I'd get my life together if someone would care

And if I should die before my time is through

Tell all the people who I was

"It's-it's, it's-it's rough, and, uh

I mean I been slept in a little water, I've been slept under bridges

I've been slept in the lil' cardboard boxes and stuff, you know?

Just survivin', 'specially in the wintertime, it's the hardest time

And like, uh, I go to fill applications for a job and stuff

They look at me, you know, I'm not lookin' presentable

And then they, 'Well, we'll call you. Leave a number'

But how can I leave a number when I don't have a phone?"

"It's really humiliating to be shakin' a cup 24 hours a day

And people just look at you like you're some kind of lil' bum, you know what I'm sayin'?

I mean, I have had people who walk past me that say, 'Get a job, bum'

And I say, 'Wait a minute, I'm not a bum, I'm a human being'"

On the streets where I sleep, Bullet is my name

You see, I've lost my wife and child, and the whiskey is to blame

So I've been preaching gospels to the crazies on the curb

Among these people, I'll achieve my fame

'Cause I can't get a job 'cause of dirt on my face

I can't find no food or a resting place

I ain't a bad guy, Lord knows I try

And I'm prob'ly rot here in the alley where I die

I'm gonna get straight if it's the last thing I can bare

I'd get my life together if someone would care

If I should die before my time is through

Tell all the people who I was

I'm gonna get straight if it's the last thing I can bare

I'd get my life together if someone would care

And if I should die before my time is through

Tell all the people who I was