City Won't Pay Me Back (version 2)

Verse

Corner store selling what the block already knew

Cardboard box roof, a coat for the cold

Ice truck rattling, bread still warm and old

Every corner's got a story it won't tell

Bullhorn screaming but the answer lives elsewhere

Copper wire rusting where the streetlights used to be

City gave up on us but we kept moving free

Soles of my sneakers flat from running every day

Chasing every bill like it's money and faith

Pre-Chorus

Is this living or just surviving?

Which one you want when the lights come alive

Chorus

City won't pay me back for all that I've done

City said goodbye but we're still getting sun

I don't need a check, I need a name for my own block tonight

Sky don't care who's broke, just move and keep it tight

Verse 2

Warehouse door swings open at the break of dawn

Milk crates stacked high where the kids learn to climb from

Cement cracks wide but we make our own ground

Fence around the park but the grass still growin' down

Taxman don't know how much this street is worth

We count what's left when there's nothin' left on earth

Soles of my sneakers flat from running every day

Chasing every bill like it's money and faith

Pre-Chorus

Is this living or just surviving?

Which one you want when the lights come alive

Chorus

City won't pay me back for all that I've done

City said goodbye but we're still getting sun

I don't need a check, I need a name for my own block tonight

Sky don't care who's broke, just move and keep it tight

Bridge

They built the highway right through our windowpane

Said progress was gold but left us with nothing to gain

So I'm gonna light the sky myself on this corner street

No budget needed when you're dancing to your own beat

Chorus

City won't pay me back for all that I've done

City said goodbye but we're still getting sun

I don't need a check, I need a name for my own block tonight

Sky don't care who's broke, just move and keep it tight