Beggin' In The Slums Lyrics & Chords By Defeater

(after findin' our way to new york, it was back to just more of the same. playin' on the street, shinin' shoes, cleanin' up in bars and houses for room and board. the color of your skin didn't seem to matter as much up here, but your time in war didn't seem to matter much either. no man would give you so much as a dollar a day, for any kinda work. i had gotten pretty good pickin' that guitar, and i tried to get in those coffee shops that seemed to be poppin' up all over now-a-days. but they didn't care much for my sound, said i just was a hillbilly. so i would just keep playin' where i could, put my hat down and just sing until my lungs were sore and my fingers would bleed. i won't ever forget that day i saw that young man watchin' me.)

I ain't been sleepin' well these days. i lie awake listenin' to the trains wishing for one to come and take me away. i've lost my way every place i've been, i'm tired of thinkin' of all the hurt i've seen. wishin' for death to finally take me. my days are all the same, on the corners i beg and play. i blow my lungs out for some stranger's change. the nights are long and cold under bridges when you're all alone. the embers of the fire build like drifts of snow. i've been thrown out, i've been let down. never felt the promise of this town there was supposed to be when i left home. i am washed up, on my last breath. just an old man with nothin' left. it ain't the way it was supposed to be when i came home. my ups and my downs have burnt me out. these people watchin' me and the swan song that i sing. and in the crowd i see the eyes that have been broken down, just like mine. i hope my words dig deep, i hope he's listenin'. and sees what i've become, just a beaten man beggin' in slums. i found my hope, i finally found my hope in the poor lost soul's eyes that were burnin' just like mine.