Skid Row - Smokey Robinson

Clerks at the hotels don’t take a chance

Rooms for three dollars pay in advance

Sleep on a mattress, you might get a sheet

But you’d be surprised at the people you meet

Telling their tales of trouble and woe

'Bout how they got down here to skid row

Minnie the moocher begging for dimes

Her life has fallen on difficult times

She was a teacher, got strung out on crack

Went out so far 'til she never got back

When she started teaching, she didn’t know

'Bout the school of hard knocks down on skid row

Willie the wino, now ain’t it a shame

Sleeping in doorways, he don’t know his name

Was a surgical doctor, the top of his class

'Til he started finding his nerve in a glass

A little nip now and then began to grow and grow

He’s a missing physician on skid row

Skid row, anywhere USA

You can find them there

Lost sheep who have gone astray

We gotta lift them up in prayer

Oh…

Ooh…

Larry and Lisa, three kids and all

Nowhere to go and no one to call

Larry was working, he was laid off

Lived in a house that wasn’t paid off

Went into foreclosure and they had to go

Now they live on the streets down on skid row

Well, well, skid row, anywhere USA

You can find them there

The numbers growing higher everyday

We gotta show them somebody cares

Well, skid row, anywhere USA

You can find them there

Lost sheep who have gone astray

We gotta lift them up in prayer…