No I never shot no-one - I was only having fun
 Walking down Madison - swear I never had a gun
 I was philosophizing some
 Checking out the bums

 See you give 'em your nickels, your pennies and dimes
 But you can't give 'em hope in these mercenary times, oh no
 And you feel real guilty about the coat on your back
 And the sandwich you had, oh no

 From an uptown apartment to a knife on the A train
 It's not that far
 From the sharks in the penthouse to the rats in the basement
 It's not that far
 To the bag lady frozen asleep in the park
 Oh no it's not that far
 Would you like to see some more?
 I can show you if you'd like to

 Walking down Madison - I swear I never had a gun
 No I never shot no-one - wouldn't do it just for fun
 Walking down Madison - trying to keep my head screwed on
 I was philosophizing some
 Checking out the nuns

 When you get to the corner don't look at those freaks
 Keep your head down low and stay quick on your feet, oh yeah
 The beaming boy from Harlem with the airforce coat
 The ones who died
 The ones who tried
 The ones that sit and gloat

 From an uptown apartment to a knife on the A train
 It's not that far
 From the sharks in the penthouse to the rats in the basement
 It's not that far
 To the bag lady frozen asleep on the church steps
 It's not that far
 Would you like to see some more?
 I can show you if you'd like to

 Within every city and town there's a Madison
 Frozen lives for whom nothing's happening
 Hungry children is a mother's dilemma
 Dumpster diving to feed her baby Emma
 So you walk on by like it doesn't affect you
 The held out hand that you pay no respect to
 Nickels and dimes won't even buy your guilt
 Another wino burnt to death in his quilt
 It's a cardboard city, newspaper metropolis
 The system can't cope or keep on top of this
 The authorities come as you're not for display
 Do they solve the problem no they move him away
 They're in a vicious circle of no fixed abode
 The social won't pay 'em the money they're owed
 When you've got no money you can't pay rent
 Hypothermia kills 'cos the system is bent

 From an uptown apartment to a knife on the A train
 It's not that far
 From the sharks in the penthouse to the rats in the basement
 It's not that far
 To the bag lady frozen asleep in the park
 Oh no it's not that far
 Would you like to see some more?
 I can show you if you'd like to

 From an uptown apartment to a knife on the A train
 It's not that far
 From the sharks in the penthouse to the rats in the basement
 It's not that far
 To the bag lady frozen asleep on the church steps
 It's not that far
 Would you like to see some more?
 I can show you if you'd like to

 In the subway sits a vacuous man
 His grip on life is a bent tin can
 It's a holy shrine where he burns his light
 It makes things easy and removes his plight
 For an hour or two but he can't escape
 They're all penned in with government tape
 There are good samaritans who bring the soup
 The sally army with their bibles and boots
 You can see yourself as it's not too far
 One short trip you don't who they are
 Till the night comes then it all comes back
 Like the smell of patchouli and the armies of rats
 It's a shame to be human it's a human shame
 It seems we've forgotten we're one and the same