Little black girl in a red dress on a hot night with a broken shoe
Little black girl you shoulda never left home
There's probably someone still waitin' up for you
It's cold back in Chicago, on Los Angeles streets it's worse
All you got is $29.00 and an alligator purse
I see that vulture in the Fleetwood with the Chartreuse hood
Can see you're trying to get your bearings
And you say, "Hey baby which way is the main stem?"
And where ever you say you're from
He'll say he grew up there himself
And he'll gonna come on and make you feel like you grew up right next door to him
Take a left on central
He's gonna throw it in reverse
All you've got is $29.00 and an alligator purse
He's gonna come on just like a gentleman
Oh baby you're gonna be a little shy
You say your ex old man was a sax player
He'll say baby I used to play bass for Sly
And you say you like his Cadillac
Say honey I got 2 or 3
Sweetheart you're sure fortunate that you ran into me
You've done a dime in the joint
You figure nothin' could be worse
$29.00, alligator purse
Pharaoh on the 8 track
You start smokin' a little boo
You thinkin' getting' out of Chicago was the best thing ever happened to you
Startin' to like it already
This cat seems to be cool
Says, "Baby, I know a good hotel out in West Hollywood that'd be just right for you"
He ain't no good Samaritan
He'll gonna make sure he's reimbursed
Lot more than $29.00 and an alligator purse

Now when the streets get hungry baby, you can almost hear them growl
Someone's setting a place for you when the dogs begin to howl
The streets are dead
They creep up and tear what there was left on the pole
Them Memphis suckers always make mistakes when they're far away from home
Chicken in a pot
Whoever gets their first
Gonna get himself $29.00 and an alligator purse
Now the siren's just an epilogue
The cops here always get there too late
They always stop for coffee on the way to the scene of the crime
They always try so hard to look just like movie stars
But they couldn't catch a cold
Baby don't waste your dime
"She's lucky to be alive", the doctor whispered to the nurse
She only lost a 1/2 pint of blood, $29.00 and an alligator purse"

Say baby, coo-coo