Boy of the Bowery

’m a boy of the Bowery,

I’ve nowhere else to go,

I’ll end up on Hart Island,

In the sun, the rain, the snow.

2nd Verse

I came to New York City,

A young man with hopes and dreams,

But all I’ve got’s the Bowery,

With its nightmares and its screams,

Chorus

And its hail to the Bowery,

It’s where I’ve lived me life,

With bums and filthy scoundrels,

Where hopelessness is rife,

And it’s long live the Bowery,

Be here when we’re all gone,

Although I’ll be forgotten,

They’ll remember us in song,

3rd Verse

There’s poets, painters, workers,

And brothers, husbands too,

They walk and sleep the Bowery,

Though their weeks and months be few.

4th Verse

And we’ll walk along these city streets,

Look down for coins and bills,

And all we do is drink, sing and talk,

We’ve so much time to fill.

Repeat Chorus

5th Verse

It’s survival of the sober,

But it’s easier when drunk,

It’s often pals forget to wake,

And Bowery hearts are sunk,

6th Verse

And I’ll think of those we’ve loved and lost,

All those poor girls and boys,

To us their laughs were symphonies,

To others, just white noise,

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