Papa hit him, Mama kissed him

Made him go to Catechism

With the sisters in their black and white

And all the time those city streets

Were teaching him another kind of wisdom

When to run and when to fight

Up at the playground after school

Listening to tales of the prison system

And those lawless avenues



Dawn on a half darkened street

A child's footsteps repeat

And something there turns them

Down those lawless avenues



Silent Joe went down so bad

He was the strongest fighter the avenues had

Stabbed in the chest--he went down swinging

Someone from some other part of town

No one even seen it coming down

And you don't hear no church bells ringing

And in the violent night the police light

Sweeps across the lots and the yards

Following those lawless avenues



Down on a half darkened street

Armies advance and retreat

And struggle to take control

From those lawless avenues



Manuelito's sister Rosa

Ran away with a surfer from Hermosa

Manuelito, cuida a Rosa,

Hay mira como estan las cosas!

(Manuelito take care of Rosa

--Look at how things are)



But who could blame her after she saw

Every boy die who could have gotten close to her

Rosa es joven u solo quiere

ver la belleza del mundo

(Rosa is young and only wants

To see the beauty of the world)



Manuel said--

"You gotta fight for what you want in this life"

Just before they shipped him overseas to 'Nam

Otra guerra sin razon

Otra guerra sin fin, sin honor

(Another war without reason,

Another war without end, without honor)



And she was fighting to understand

When they shipped Manuelito's body home

All she heard was one more shot

Echoing down lawless avenues



Hoy amigo, tal igual como ayer,

La lucha en el barrio no cambia

Nuestros hijos son los que han de crecer

Por ley de la calle, viviendo entre abrazos

Y chingazos

(Today my friend, just like yesterday,

The struggle in the barrio doesn't change.

Our children are the ones to grow up

By the law of the street

Living between hugs and blows)



Down on a half darkened street

Fathers' and sons' lives repeat

And something there turns them

Down those lawless avenues



En el calor de la calle

(In the heat of the street)

Buscan valor en la calle

(Looking for valor in the street)

Hasta final de la calle

(Till the end of the street)