helicopters over the house again

we got the projects two or three blocks from here

they pull the kids over for driving while african

and the ones with the warrants always run in fear

so i sit here waiting for the coast to clear

wishing once again i had a gun around here

turn on the news and what do i hear

some kid shot the bank up on gallatin road

ran away from the cops while he was trying to reload

he beat them up to eastland street on feet

now he's probably reloaded and running down my street

better turn the alarm on and lock myself in

helicopters over the house again


sometimes you rise above it

sometimes you sneak below

somewhere in between believing in heaven

and facing the devil you know


poor kid probably never had a chance to give a fuck

wouldn't know good luck from a debutant

he's gotta find a way to be steve mcnair or young buck

or he's just tough luck looking for a prison to haunt

and you can fuck getting any kind of job you want

unless you really want to work in a fast food restaraunt

and who wants to do that? do you want to do that?

i wouldn't trade that for my crooked hat

or my gang or my gun or my waist full of pagers

for a job deep frying shit, for richer teen agers

if that's where it's at and no one's gonna help

how you gonna blame a man for helping himself

there's a war going on that the poor can't win

helicopters over the house again


sometimes you rise above it

sometimes you sneak below

somewhere in between believing in heaven

and facing the devil you know


black and white cops shining lights in the bushes

can't see how this kid is gonna get very far

unless he finds a way to make it back over to barry street

and he can't do that unless he steals a car

man the way things are they just don't seem right

all the white people talking 'bout the hope and the light

there ain't no hope in sam levy just guns and drugs

we ain't building bridges we're just training thugs

then i hear a terrifying kick at my back door

and in comes this kid i say hey i've seen this kid before

i see him all the time at that bar on woodland street

now he's bleeding in my kitchen tracking mud off his feet

and he's looking at me like i'll either help him or die

until he sees in my eyes that i'm on his side

i hand him my keys i say you better move fast

there's a J in the ashtray and plenty of gas

he throws me the cash and says i'll be back for this

i say yeah well don't be surprised if theres' a little bit of it missing

his gold teeth glistened with a big old grin

he said we'll talk about that when i see you again

he shook my hand i shook his back

i felt like i was about to have a heart attack

until he finally drove away i thought "goddamn"

helicopters over the house again


sometimes you rise above it

sometimes you sneak below

somewhere in between believing in heaven

and facing the devil you know