There's blacks with knives and whites with guns

fighting in Howard Beach

There's no such thing as human rights

when you walk the N.Y.streets

A cop was shot in the head by a 10 years old kid

named Buddah in Central Park last week

The fathers and daughters are lined up by the coffins

by the Statue of Bigotry



You better hold on, something's happening here

You better hold on, meet you in Tompkins Square



The dopers sent a message to the cops last weekend

they shot him in the car where he sat

And Eleanor Bumpers and Michael Stewart

must have appreciated that

There's a rampaging rage rising up like a plague

of bloody vials washing up on the beach

It'll take more than the Angels or Iron Mike Tyson

to heal this bloody breach, hey, hey



You better hold on, something's happening here

You better hold on, meet you in Tompkins Square



A junkie ran down a lady a pregnant dancer

she'll never dance but the baby was saved

He shot up some China White and nodded out at the wheel

and he doesn't remember a thing

They shot that old lady 'cause they thought she was a witness to

a crime she didn't even see

Whose home is the home of the brave

by the Statue of Bigotry, hey



You better hold on, something's happening here

You better hold on, meet you in Tompkins Square



You got a black .38 and a gravity knife

you still have to ride the train

There's the smelly essence of N.Y. down there

but you ain't no Bernard Goetz

There's no Mafia lawyer to fight in your corner for that

15 minutes of fame

The have and the have nots are bleeding in the tub

that's New York's future not mine, oh



You better hold on, something's happening here-ac