There's a cold rain pouring off the Williamsburg Bridge

The world's giving way beneath my feet

Someone once said that you're lucky when you're dead

You know sometimes I agree

They're sweeping hot bottle caps onto the street

There's a boy about 16 staring down

With a sick little smile just to prove he's alive

As he looks around for nothing on the ground

Once his life was a prison but it burst at the seams

When he found a way to leave his dreams behind

Now he lives in a mist he hopes will leave him so numb

That he'll die without a worry on his mind

CHORUS

I was walking through Williamsburg, taking it in

Trying to keep the courage not to run

When a boy left a bodega and he stepped in my path

In his right hand was a gun

He said, "Give me your money and I'll leave you alive"

And he shook and looked discouraged while he talked

And I tried not to watch him as he walked away

But I noticed a spring in his walk

CHORUS

You only get one chance at everything on this Earth

And everything you do you must redeem

It's a hard sad life most people'd rather throw away

On drinks and drugs and idle dreams

I was sitting in my bedroom staring at an empty fifth

The night was disappearing from my head

When I had a funny thought and I started to laugh

'Cause I remembered what somebody said

CHORUS