Childhood part of my life

Wasn't very pretty

(Boom boom-boom boom)

I was born and raised

In the slums of the city

(Boom boom-boom boom)

It was a one-room shack

That slept ten other children beside me

(Boom boom-boom boom)

We hardly had enough food

Or room to sleep

(Boom boom-boom boom)

It was hard times

I needed somethin' to ease my troubled mind

Ooh listen

My father didn't know the meaning of work

(Boom boom-boom boom)

He disrespected mama

And treated us like dirt

(Boom boom-boom boom)

I left home seeking a job

That I never did find

(Boom boom-boom boom)

Depressed and down-hearted

And I took to cloud nine

(Boom boom-boom boom)

I'm doing fine

Up here on cloud nine

Listen one more time

I'm doing fine

Up here on cloud nine

Folks down there tell me

"Give yourself a chance son

Don't let life pass you by"

(Woo woo woo-oo)

But the world around you's a rat race

Where only the strongest survive

It's a dog-eat-dog world

And that ain't no lie

(Ain't no lie)

It ain't even safe no more

To walk the streets at night

I'm doing fine

On cloud nine

Every body say yeah yeah say yeah yeah say yeah yeah