John By Marrianne Bacon ã 1990

Key of D

John sweeps the sidewalks at night Working hard for the public's clean sight For what he does, he barely makes beans And in the morning he goes home and reads about Men who are big stars Making big money and driving fast cars Possessing women he'll never meet And when he lays down he has these dreams about Sweeping the sidewalk at night Somebody's cigarette still has a light It starts a fire in his part of town And burns all he hates to the ground John's mom calls him that day Waking John up so he won't be late Why can't he be like his brother Bill Marry a sweet girl, have kids, get a job in the Mill's not hiring now He'd get a good job if he only knew how Women don't seem to notice him much The ones that do, he wouldn't touch So he sweeps the sidewalks at night Seeing the litter as a waste of his life Wishing the city would burn in a swirl Along with his mother's blue curls Soon small fires are fought Poor John's mother never gave it a thought Till her baby turned out to be The one on the evening news pick up by the Police think John's not quite sane He still envisions the dancing of flames It's the one dream, he's given life It give's him pride as he does his time Sweeping the floors though the day His parole is still years away For now he's safe, where he belongs He was sure of it all along