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Allentown performed by Billy Joel from the album The Nylon Curtain (Purchase from Amazon.com) about the constraints of growing up in a steel working town:
"Well we're living here in Allentown And they're closing all the factories down Out in Bethlehem they're killing time Filling out forms, standing in line"
"She calls out to the man on the street 'Sir, can you help me? It's cold and I've nowhere to sleep, Is there somewhere you can tell me?' He walks on, doesn't look back He pretends he can't hear her Starts to whistle as he crosses the street Seems embarrassed to be there"
"And the only tune I hear Is the sound of the wind As it blows through the town Weave and spin, weave and spin"
"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot With a pink hotel, a boutique and a swinging hot spot Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got Till it's gone They paved paradise and put up a parking lot"
"Once I thanked God for my treasures Now like rust, it corrodes I can't help bur blaming you going On the coming, the coming of the roads"
"The punishment is capital for those who lack in capital because a public defender can't remember the last time that a brother wasn't treated like an animal"
Factory performed by Bruce Springsteen from the album Darkness on the Edge of Town (Purchase from Amazon.com) about the struggles of the working class through the eyes of a boy:
"Through the mansions of fear, through the mansions of pain, I see my daddy walking through them factory gates in the rain, Factory takes his hearing, factory gives him life, The working, the working, just the working life."
"I've got a fast car we've got a ticket to anywhere been workin' at a convenience store tryin' to save just a little bit a money won't have to drive to far just across the border and into the city you and I can both get jobs .......what need to be livin'"
"I see him everyday In that blanket that he calls home I wonder does he know That his family they1re left alone"
"Walk right past and think about it more Back at the crib I'm opening up the door A pocket full of change, it don't mean a lot to me My cup is half full, but his is empty"
"Strong wind destroy our home Many dead, tonight it could be you Strong wind, strong wind Many dead, tonight it could be you"
"Johnny wants a brain, Johnny wants to suck on a coke Johnny wants a woman, Johnny wants to think of a joke Johnny's in America"
"Jacob was a dirt poor farm boy Raised at the fork in the road in a clapboard house And Rachael was a land baron's daughter Born with a silver spoon in her mouth Her daddy said he wouldn't stand For Rachael to waste her life with a common man"
"Living on borrowed time and borrowed money Sleepin' on the street there ain't a damn thing funny Hand me down food and hand me down clothes A rockabilly past of which nobody knows Makes his home all over the place He goes to sleep by falling down on his face"
"Although we have no silver spoon Better days are coming soon Now Nellie's working at the loom And she gets paid on Friday"
"Merchandise, it keeps us in line... What could a businessman ever want more Than to have us sucking in his store We owe you nothing You have no control..."
"Bill collectors they ring my phone And scare my wife when I'm not home Got a bum education, double-digit inflation Can't take the train to the job, there's a strike at the station"
"We want your homes, We want your lives, We want the things you won't allow us We won't use guns, We won't use bomgs, We'll use the one thing we've got more of: That's our minds."
"Theres no place like home Inside these walls safe from the cold another night falls whats mine is mine So Ive been told theres no place like home"
"Uncivilized we call him, but I just saw him eat off the food we waste Civilization, are we really civilized, yes or no? Who are we to judge? When thousands of innocent men could be brutally enslaved and killed over a racist grudge"
"They got you thinkin' that what you need is what they sellin' Made you think that buyin is rebellin' From the theaters to malls, on every shore The thin line between entertainment and war"
"But I've dreamed about an island all I got's a bucket of sand. I'd give my eyes to give you all your dreams Now I get to see my family slipping through my hands"
"And then Georgie would make the fire lights As it was, log would burnin' through the nights Then we would cook cornmeal porridge Of which I'll share with you My feet is my only carriage"
"You people can watch while I'm scrubbing these floors And I'm scrubbin' the floors while you're gawking Maybe once ya tip me and it makes ya feel swell In this crummy Southern town In this crummy old hotel But you'll never guess to who you're talkin'. No. You couldn't ever guess to who you're talkin'."
"You're a rich girl and you've gone too far 'Cause you know it don't matter anyway You can rely on the old man's money You can rely on the old man's money"
"Sit a while with TV's hungry child, big belly swelled Oh, for the price of a coke or a smoke keep alive those hungry eyes Take a look at me, what you see in me, mirror look at me Face it all, face it all again."
"There must be something in the rain I'm not sure just what that means Abuelita talks of the sins of man Of dust that's in our hands There must be something in the rain, Well, what else would cause this pain Those planes cure the plants so things can grow Oh no, it must be something in the rain."
"While they're standing in the welfare lines, crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation, wasting time in the unemployment lines, sitting around waiting for a promotion. Poor people gonna rise up and get their share Poor people gonna rise up and take what's theirs"
"Children play with rusted cars Sores cover their hands Politicians laugh and drink Drunk to all demands"
"You know, the man just upped my rent last night 'Cos whitey's on the moon No hot water, no toilets, no lights But whitey's on the moon I wonder why he's uppin' me 'Cos whitey's on the moon? Well, I was already givin' him fifty a week And now whitey's on the moon"
"I laid in the ghetto flat Cold and numb I heard the rats tell the beadbugs To give the roaches some And everybody wants to know why I sing the blues I've been around a long time I've really paid my dues"
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