Lawless Avenues Lyrics - Browne Jackson

Papa hit him, Mama kissed him 

Made him go to Catechism 

With the sisters in their black and white 

And all the time those city streets 

Were teaching him another kind of wisdom 

When to run and when to fight 

Up at the playground after school 

Listening to tales of the prison system 

And those lawless avenues 

Down on a half darkened street 

A child's footsteps repeat 

And something there turns them 

Down those lawless avenues 

Silent Joe went down so bad 

He was the strongest fighter the avenues had 

Stabbed in the chest-- he went down swinging 

Someone from some other part of town 

No one even seen it coming down 

And you don't hear no church bells ringing 

And in the violent night the police light 

Sweeps across the lots and the yards 

Following those lawless avenues 

Down on a half darkened street 

Armies advance and retreat 

And struggle to take control 

From those lawless avenues 

Manuelito's sister Rosa 

Ran away with a surfer from Hermosa 

Manuelito, cuida a Rosa 

Hay mira como estan las cosas! 

(Manuelito, take care of Rosa 

Look at how things are) 

But who could blame her after she saw 

Every boy die who could have gotten close to her 

Rosa es joven y solo quiere 

ver la belleza del mundo 

(Rosa is young and only wants 

to see the beauty of the world) 

Manuel said-- 

"You gotta fight for what you want in this life" 

Just before they shipped him overseas to 'Nam 

Otra guerra sin razon 

Otra guerra sin fin, sin honor 

(Another war without reason 

Another war without end, without honor) 

And she was fighting to understand 

When they shipped Manuelito's body home 

All she heard was one more shot 

Echoing down lawless avenues 

Hoy amigo, tal igual como ayer, 

La lucha en el barrio no cambia 

Nuestros hijos son los que han de crecer 

Por ley de la calle, viviendo entre abrazos 

Y chingazos 

(Today my friend, just like yesterday, 

The struggle in the barrio doesn't change 

Our children are the ones to grow up 

By the law of the street, 

Living between hugs and blows) 

Down on a half darkened street 

Fathers' and sons' lives repeat 

And something there turns them 

Down those lawless avenues 

En el calor de la calle 

(In the heat of the street) 

Buscan el valor en la calle 

(Looking for valor in the street) 

Hasta final de la calle 

(Till the end of the street)