Everybody wanna change the world,
But Nobody ever changed this town,
Tell yourself you're gonna rise above,
Until the black top pulls you down.

We got blue veins till they hit the the knife and we don't change.
We are who we are who we are who we are,
Can't change who we are can't change who we are,
Blue veins till they hit the knife then they bleed red.

Why can't I be more?
I don't wanna fight my father's wars,
But nothing comes easy where I come from,
So we sweat it out in the concrete sun,
Till the colors run.

I've seen the story play out before,
Old men they just fade away,
And we become what our fathers were,
Like soldiers following the orders,
Put it on the shoulders of the family name.
It's who we are.

Maybe it's like Axel spins it,
You hate it, and hate it, the one day you miss it,
Find yourself coming back to old divisions,
While your cinder block dream sleeps with the fishes.

Thought it had wings, you thought you could fly,
But "nobody flies on the south side",
Your born here, then you die.
Loyal to the oil in the black top sky.

Or maybe it's like Joni says it,
Nothing is written, nothing is set,
There's something brave about staying with it,
And making beauty out of all this shi…

I'm a long way going the distance,
Feels more like dying by inches,
The wishes and the misses,
The poverty of indifference.