Album: Prince Of The Poverty Line (1994)

A Dog In The Manger


2 A.M. a southbound junction - innocence takes flight
Common sense has lost all function - stranded in the night.
The albatross has flown the nest - he's breaking family ties
He recalls his mother weeping with her hands held to her eyes.
His alcoholic father was too drunk to know or care
The rod not spared had spoiled this child - his only son and heir.

The city lights have pulled him southward - magnets in his mind
Where the streets are paved with gold and lady luck is kind.

"The boy only wants some attention - he's wasting our time
He'll never survive on his own - for he's no son of mine."

There's thousands more just like him - seeking love they've never found
No hearth and home to call his own - our fox has run to ground.
His father taught him right from wrong (and beat him black and blue)
Caressed the boy with his clenched fist the only way he knew.

He never went to school that much 'cause he could not disguise
The weals and bruises on his legs - the rings around his eyes.

He only needed a family to help him to shine
All he has is a ticket to ride on the poverty line.

He stirs from his gin and tamazapam coma
To find while he slept someone has done him over
His things are all missing or strewn 'cross the floor
And he can't quite recall the events of the evening before.

As cars race by our young prince waits behind his cardboard shield
"OXFAM" crown upon his head - his thumb a sword to wield
A shoddy-clad knight of the road - the quest is underway
Drawn by glowing street lights in the night - and smoke by day.

The city lights have pulled him southward - magnets in his mind
Where the streets are paved with gold and lady luck is kind.

"The boy only wants some attention - he's wasting our time"
(he only needed a family to help him to shine)
"He'll never survive on his own - for he's no son of mine"
(all he has is a ticket to ride on the poverty line).