Joe

Born in a bedraggled quarter of town
Where the dirt and decay is exclaiming against you from every wall
Grown up in streets where might makes right
And between the gangs there were a lot of fights
There was much poverty, there were no jobs
But there was a lot of alcohol and there were many drugs
To get out there was against all odds

   Man forges his own destiny
   That’s easier said than done
   Sometimes your hand of cards is so bad
   You can try what you want but you will gain none
   Sometimes you have no chance at all

Joe was the eldest of six sisters and brothers
Money was always tight and it was hard for his mother
His real father he just knew by name
But there was a continual coming and going by a lot of men
They lived in an apartment that was down-and-out
It was small and narrow and it was muggy and it was loud
Joe spent most of the time outside the house

   Man forges his own destiny
   That’s easier said than done
   Sometimes your hand of cards is so bad
   You can try what you want but you will gain none
   Sometimes you have no choice at all

Since Joe was thirteen
He lived more or less in the street
There, where just the strongest wins at last
And Joe learnt the rules of the street very fast
He didn’t go to school since he was nine
The streets were his classroom; the lesson was called to survive
And Joe learnt how to fight

   Man forges his own destiny
   That’s easier said than done
   Sometimes your hand of cards is so bad
   You can try what you want but you will gain none
   Sometimes you have no choice at all

He was caught the first time at the age of fourteen
But they just could prove a little steal
It kept at burglaries at the beginning
But than he embarked on drugs racketeering
With his gang he built an empire by and by
And more and more Joe acted like the king of the eastside

   Man forges his own destiny
   That’s easier said than done
   Sometimes your hand of cards is so bad
   You can try what you want but you will gain none
   Sometimes you have no choice at all

One day they were betrayed, must have been one of his gang
At the delivery the police were waiting for them
Joe got ten years and he went to jail
When he came out everything has changed
His friend Ray had taken the dealings meanwhile
And he wouldn’t accept any rival at his side
After only three days that Joe were out
In broad daylight they shot him down

   Man forges his own destiny
   That’s easier said than done
   Sometimes your hand of cards is so bad
   You can try what you want but you will gain none
   Sometimes you have no chance at all

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