Pregnant teens on the Barton street bus
Homeless people are living off crust
And there's a beat up town car
It's starting to rust
Hard soles are kicking up dust
Half a million people living in the corpse of the brown brick 50's
To the north, all the small town outcasts
Now big city bourgeoisie

All the boys in the halfway houses
Wave to the girls of Emerald Street

Our calloused fingers, blood red on the brick
But we hold on
(Hold on)
We'll never falter, though they want us to slip
We hold on
(Hold on)

The desperate, downtown stealing bikes
Drunks in the village are picking fights
So police line the streets to read them their rights
No controlling hot summer nights
The sun goes down on the edge of town, at the end of every day
We sit and watch the stacks, on fire, to the east across the bay

All the boys in the halfway houses
Wave to the girls of Emerald Street

Our calloused fingers, blood red on the brick
But we hold on
(Hold on)
We'll never falter, though they want us to slip
We hold on
(Hold on)

There's something in the church belfry
On the corner of Victoria and King
And it screams out into the night
It sings this city's plight

All the boys in the halfway houses
Wave to the girls of Emerald Street
(Hold on)
(Hold on)

Our calloused fingers, blood red on the brick
But we hold on
(Hold on)
We'll never falter, though they want us to slip
We hold on
(Hold on)