5. smog city blues

Why do people shout in the morning

Why the women crying at night

I tried to have peace like the LA River

But truth is a useless peace of mind

Fireworks they buy in Tecate

Stereos you throw on the curb

You heard a terse pan-hand alley coin toss

The faux-car wash off-ramp beggars earn

Why do city people always seem to shout 

At three in the morning

Three in the fucking morning

Yell for Tré once more

My alloy sits by the door

Rhythm-knocking lovers at midnight

Filler in the kisses of mods

Scene chicks swingin' hips at an Echoplex gig

A stage hand rakes mind-out kids along

Oh, why do city idiots appear to pity 

Men on the sidewalk

Favella tents up the next block

Cries to do something more 

But it's you I see who's locking the door

Thought I could see the sunlight

Laugh at the morgue with lungs like

Carbon perfume and concrete

Dimwitted witness don't speak

Speaking in waves you can't read

Jonathan Gold withholding

Pleasant enough what I've seen

Melting away the shoe groove

Hole in the wall become new

Brush over neighbors tax-free

Orange and beige and palm leaf

Monomaniacally we

Dance in the Santa Cruz sink

Drown in the fumes of release

Cloud days that never become rain

Sweep the street to push it around

I love the sound, the mad thrash of a helicopter

I wouldn't sleep any better if it fell to the ground

Oh, why do city people always seem to shout 

At three in the morning

Three in the fucking morning

Yell for Tré once more

My alloy sits by the door

Why does everybody say I ought to fix

The dent in my car door

That's what I drive a Prius for

Stupid mindless dreck

This place has always got its foot on my neck

COMMENTS: the world's worst neighbor lets loose