Walking down Madison - I swear I never had a gun

No I never shot no-one - I was only having fun

Walking down Madison - swear I never had a gun

I was philosophizing some

Checking out the bums



See you give 'em your nickels, your pennies and dimes

But you can't give 'em hope in these mercenary times, oh no

And you feel real guilty about the coat on your back

And the sandwich you had, oh no



From an uptown apartment to a knife on the A train

It's not that far

From the sharks in the penthouse to the rats in the basement

It's not that far

To the bag lady frozen asleep in the park

Oh no it's not that far

Would you like to see some more?

I can show you if you'd like to



Walking down Madison - I swear I never had a gun

No I never shot no-one - wouldn't do it just for fun

Walking down Madison - trying to keep my head screwed on

I was philosophizing some

Checking out the nuns



When you get to the corner don't look at those freaks

Keep your head down low and stay quick on your feet, oh yeah

The beaming boy from Harlem with the airforce coat

The ones who died

The ones who tried

The ones that sit and gloat



From an uptown apartment to a knife on the A train

It's not that far

From the sharks in the penthouse to the rats in the basement

It's not that far

To the bag lady frozen asleep on the church steps

It's not that far

Would you like to see some more?

I can show you if you'd like to



Within every city and town there's a Madison

Frozen lives for whom nothing's happening

Hungry children is a mother's dilemma

Dumpster diving to feed her baby Emma

So you walk on by like it doesn't affect you

The held out hand that you pay no respect to

Nickels and dimes won't even buy your guilt

Another wino burnt to death in his quilt

It's a cardboard city, newspaper metropolis

The system can't cope or keep on top of this

The authorities come as you're not for display

Do they solve the problem no they move him away

They're in a vicious circle of no fixed abode

The social won't pay 'em the money they're owed

When you've got no money you can't pay rent

Hypothermia kills 'cos the system is bent



From an uptown apartment to a knife on the A train

It's not that far

From the sharks in the penthouse to the rats in the basement

It's not that far

To the bag lady frozen asleep in the park

Oh no it's not that far

Would you like to see some more?

I can show you if you'd like to



From an uptown apartment to a knife on the A train

It's not that far

From the sharks in the penthouse to the rats in the basement

It's not that far

To the bag lady frozen asleep on the church steps

It's not that far

Would you like to see some more?

I can show you if you'd like to



In the subway sits a vacuous man

His grip on life is a bent tin can

It's a holy shrine where he burns his light

It makes things easy and removes his plight

For an hour or two but he can't escape

They're all penned in with government tape

There are good samaritans who bring the soup

The sally army with their bibles and boots

You can see yourself as it's not too far

One short trip you don't who they are

Till the night comes then it all comes back

Like the smell of patchouli and the armies of rats

It's a shame to be human it's a human shame

It seems we've forgotten we're one and the same