There was no running water

There were rats in the yard

They came in the house

When the weather got hard.

There was no electricity

No fancy machines

Our main entertainment

Exchanging our dreams

Life was always bitter sweet

Living down our street.

There were seven pairs of feet

Just three pairs of shoes

We'd fight for the best ones

And I'd usually lose.

Father had a chair

We kids had the floor

We thought the man

With no chairs was poor.

But life was always bitter sweet

Living down our street.

I remember the violence

I can still hear the screams

The luxury of silence

Only found in our dreams.

The feeling of hunger

Was always about

We either got nothing

Or else went without.

And life was always bitter sweet

Living down our street.

Dreams died there daily

And hope was stillborn

Ambition was frowned on

And treated with scorn.

Tears were the night-cap

That most people had

But why fear the future

When the present was so bad.

And life was always bitter sweet.

Living down our street.