Throwback Video 009/015

This one I love, at least partially just because I think it has good lyrical composition and some clever lines mixed with a nice instrumental melody - there's not honestly a ton of personal history in this one though. This is another one I wrote from an imagined or borrowed perspective. I spent some time bumming around Lawrence and hanging out in the shelters, and this one was written from the mixed perspectives and stories of some of the people I met in those days.
I don't fully understand the stigma many people have for the homeless. A homeless person is not more likely to steal than someone with more possessions, although they typically are more likely to be stolen from. But regardless, I've found many good people in my life, who didn't have a place to call home (except for earth itself of course, which probably deserves to be counted), so it felt like a good thing, to share some element of their humanity through the gift of song.
Lyrics:
I was sittin' on a bench at the park Lord it must have been about an hour past dark when I, looked up and she was, looking down at me
She said your shirt is tattered and torn, oh, your face is weathered and worn
You're a poor boy, as far as my poor eyes can see. Yeah you're a poor boy, she said,
Yeah you're a poor boy, yeah,
You're a poor boy and you're lost in the big rich city Yeah you're a poor boy, she told me,
Yeah you're a poor boy, yeah,
You're a poor boy and you're lost in the big rich city Yes I'm a poor boy, I replied,
Yes I'm a poor boy, I know,
Yes I'm a poor boy and I'm lost in this big rich city.
Sittin' same bench and same park, oh, but it was just before dark when a, stranger came up and sat down next to me
She said I like to come out and feed the birds in the day cuz it
helps me to forget the way that
I---I been livin' my life
Been putting judgement on others, oh I never was a good daughter to my mother and I, been livin' alone ever since
She said you're a poor boy, no, no no,
You're a poor boy, yeah yeah,
You're a poor boy so just watch how you behave She said just watch out when you're walking love, Won't you watch out when you're walkin' yeah, Won't you, watch out so you don't step on my grave
So won't you watch out when you're watchin Lord Yes I'm hopin' that you're watchin' Lord
Said I, hope that you're watchin' over me
Yeah I hope that you're watchin' Lord, I hope that you're watchin' Lord, Hope that you're watchin' over me
Yeah I hope that you're watchin' Lord,
I hope that you're watchin' Lord,
I hope that you're watchin' Lord, cuz I can barely see
R. Laird 2007
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