Walking Down Madison Lyrics - All I Ever Wanted: The Anthology - Kirsty Maccoll

Walking down Madison 

I swear I never had a gun 

No I never shot no one 

I was only having fun 

Walking down Madison 

Swear I never had a gun 

I was philosophizing some 

Checking out the bums 

See you give 'em your nickels 

Your pennies and dimes 

But you can't give 'em hope 

In these mercenary times, oh no 

And you feel real guilty 

About the coat on your back 

And the sandwich you had, oh no 

From an uptown apartment 

To a knife on the A train 

It's not that far 

From the sharks in the penthouse 

To the rats in the basement 

It's not that far 

To the bag lady frozen asleep in the park 

Oh no, it's not that far 

Would you like to see some more? 

I can show you if you'd like to 

Walking down Madison 

I swear I never had a gun 

No I never shot no one 

Wouldn't do it just for fun 

Walking down Madison 

Trying to keep my head screwed on 

I was philosophizing some 

Checking out the nuns 

When you get to the corner 

Don't look at those freaks 

Keep your head down low 

And stay quick on your feet, oh yeah 

The beaming boy from Harlem 

With the airforce coat 

The ones who died, the ones who tried 

The ones that sit and gloat 

From an uptown apartment 

To a knife on the A train 

It's not that far 

From the sharks in the penthouse 

To the rats in the basement 

It's not that far 

To the bag lady frozen asleep 

On the church steps 

It's not that far 

Would you like to see some more? 

I can show you if you'd like to 

Within every city and town there's a Madison 

Frozen lives for whom nothing's happening 

Hungry children is a mother's dilemma 

Dumpster diving to feed her baby Emma 

So you walk on by like it doesn't affect you 

The held out hand that you pay no respect to 

Nickels and dimes won't even buy your guilt 

Another wino burnt to death in his quilt 

It's a cardboard city, newspaper metropolis 

The system can't cope or keep on top of this 

The authorities come as you're not for display 

Do they solve the problem, no, they move him away 

They're in a vicious circle of no fixed abode 

The social won't pay 'em the money they're owed 

When you've got no money you can't pay rent 

Hypothermia kills 'cos the system is bent 

From an uptown apartment 

To a knife on the A train 

It's not that far 

From the sharks in the penthouse 

To the rats in the basement 

It's not that far 

To the bag lady frozen asleep in the park 

Oh no, it's not that far 

And do you want to see some more? 

I can show you if you'd like to 

From an uptown apartment 

To a knife on the A train 

It's not that far 

From the sharks in the penthouse 

To the rats in the basement 

It's not that far 

To the bag lady frozen asleep 

On the church steps 

It's not that far