New Street People - Loudon Wainwright III

Trapped in skyscraper, office space

Take your break, escape in haste

I’d walk a mile for that great taste

Of my brand I thee sing

Standing there in pairs and threes

Chattering teeth and trembling knees

We French inhale and then we sneeze

And suddenly it’s Spring

We’re the new street people

We’re the ones you see

Standing outside smoking

Where the air is free

So far you’ve had just two today

Baby, you’ve come a long, long way

Down forty flights what can I say

Just to get that hit

We stand around, the helpless ones

With the homeless, the winos, the bums

Reteach us how to suck our thumbs

Show us how to quit

Ostracized in restaurants

Aeroplanes and public haunts

Deprived of our most precious wants

That is to say, the weed

We see the billboards and we long

To live there, that’s where we belong

Where looking cool is never wrong

It’s normal to need

We’re the new street people

We’re the ones you see

Standing outside smoking

Where the air is free

Ten thousand toxic natural shocks

Filter, flavor, flip-top box

Thank God when it’s five o’clock

That’s when we go home

Behind closed doors every night

Matches flare and lighters light

There we exercise the right

To be left alone

Rooms fill up with acrid haze

We fill up our favorite ash trays

It’s just like the good old bad days

We only err in here

But tomorrow we’ll be back outside

Along the street where we can’t hide

Stripped of dignity and pride

Sucking cigs in fear

We’re the new street people

We’re the ones you see

Standing outside smoking

Where the air is free