Emerald Street Lyrics

Pregnant teens on the Barton street bus,
Homeless people living off crust,
And there’s a beat-up town car - it’s starting to rust,
Hard soles are kicking up dust,
Half a million people living in the corpse of the brown brick 50’s
To the north, all the small town outcasts are now big city bourgeoisie

All the boys in the halfway houses
Wave to the girls of Emerald Street

Our calloused fingers, blood red on the brick - but we hold on
We’ll never falter, though they want us to slip - we hold on

The desperate, downtown stealing bikes
Drunks in the village are picking fights

So, police line the streets to read them their rights
No controlling hot summer nights
The sun goes down on the edge of town, at the end of everyday
We sit and watch the stacks, on fire, to the east across the bay

All the boys in the halfway houses
Wave to the girls of Emerald Street

Our calloused fingers, blood red on the brick - but we hold on
We’ll never falter, though they want us to slip - we hold on


There’s something in the church belfry
At the corner of Victoria and King
And it screams out into the night
It sings this city’s plight

All the boys in the halfway houses
Wave to the girls of Emerald Street

(Hold On, Hold On)

Our calloused fingers, blood red on the brick - but we hold on
We’ll never falter, though they want us to slip - we hold on
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Lyrics submitted by Alex.