My friend Steve pissed away all his years
'Cause he was slaving, building cars
Blood and sweat upon the gears
All of his off time spent at the bar
Years and years of nothing but sorrow
Wonder how can he be content?
Fucking just to wake up tomorrow
And he'll do it all over again
Gonna wake up tomorrow and do it again
On the streets of Detroit
On the streets of this town
All their dreams are destroyed
Once you're in, you can never get out
♪
See Reggie sleeps on Jefferson Avenue
On the courthouse heat exhausts
He's no different than me or you
In 1984, he got laid off
A motor city dead of wind
We shared a joke and now I gave him some change (hey)
Wonder is there a hope his future?
I don't know, I never saw him again
Don't think that I'll ever see him again, no
On the streets of Detroit
On the streets of this town
All their dreams are destroyed
Once you're in, you can never get out
♪
Tons of casinos, miles and miles of factories
Thousands of condemned homes
Every corner, churches and liquor stores
All I need is a match and some gasoline
I'm gonna burn it down (gonna burn it down)
I'm gonna burn it down (gonna burn it down)
I'm gonna burn it down (gonna burn it down)
I'm gonna burn it down
My father put in his best years, yeah
Working for one of the big three
I still remember my mother's tears
We're born to die in a factory
Coming home at dawn, early breaks
See he's strung out from the late night shift (hey)
Pills and powder to stay awake
I see his bottles are empty again
Prescription bottles are empty again
On the streets of Detroit
On the streets of this town
All their dreams are destroyed
Once you're in, you can never get out
On the streets of Detroit (Detroit)
On the streets of this town
All their dreams are destroyed (destroyed)
Once you're in, you can never get out
Sometimes I wanna burn it down
On the streets of Detroit
On the streets of this town (yeah)
All their dreams are destroyed
Once you're in, you can never get out
On the streets of Detroit (ooh)
On the streets of this town