In The Heat Of The Summer Lyrics - Phil Ochs

In the heat of the summer 

When the pavements were burning 

The soul of a city was ravaged in the night 

After the city sun was sinkin' 

Now no one knows how it started 

Why the windows were shattered 

But deep in the dark, someone set the spark 

And then it no longer mattered 

Down the street they were rumbling 

All the tempers were ragin' 

Oh, where, oh, where are the white silver tongues 

Who forgot to listen to the warnings? 

On and on come the angry 

No longer following reason 

And all the stores were the target now 

Where just the other day they were buyin' 

Drunk with the memory of the ghetto 

Drunk with the lure of the looting 

And the memory of the uniforms shoving with their sticks 

Asking, "Are you looking for trouble?" 

"No, no, no," moaned the mayor 

"It's not the way of the order 

Oh, stay in your homes, please leave us alone 

We'll be glad to talk in the morning" 

"For shame, for shame," wrote the papers 

"Why the hurry to your hunger? 

Now the rubble's resting on your broken streets 

So you see what your rage has unraveled" 

Baricades sadly were risin' 

Bricks were heavily flyin' 

And the loudspeaker drowned like a whisperin' sound 

When compared to the angered emotions 

And when the fury was over 

And the shame was replacing the anger 

So wrong, so wrong, but we've been down to long 

And we had to make somebody listen 

In the heat of the summer...