Girl on the Street

She spied me through the traffic and was on me in a flash Some soft soaked out-of-towner and an easy mark for cash In contrast to her ragged cloak of filth and disrepair Was a dark-eyed mystic beauty and a raven shock of hair With what was feral frantic motion, her every move was laced With the kind of desperation born of demons not yet face Quite clearly, she was hounded by some not-too-distant past That was feasting on each moment like it just might be her last The girl on the street was once somebody's daughter, yeah The girl on the street was once somebody's friend The girl on the street, one more lamb, led to the slaughter Where for three dimes and a quarter, she gets nothing in the end She hit me up with hunger, first things first, you know But a little too coquettish for my sympathy to show She offered up her favors with a nod below the belt And a parting shot at pity for the cards that she'd been dealt Its drugs said I be truthful, it's right there in your eyes You know that stuff will kill you, it's a loaded pack of lies She rolled her sleeve, slapped her vein and spat out three months clean Hey, don't pretend you know me, man, just cough up something green The girl on the street was once somebody's daughter, yeah The girl on the street was once somebody's friend The girl on the street found you tailor, made to order And for three dimes and a quarter, you get nothing in the end So with the loose change in my pocket, I let myself off light When I could have helped her find some food and shelter for the night Compassion for the dope sick, 20-something whore Hits way to close to home for me to open up that door So please, don't say, go easy, man, so what if you came up short? I might have made a difference if I only had the heart The girl on the street was once somebody's daughter, yeah The girl on the street was once somebody's friend The girl on the street in spite of everything they taught her Gone for three dimes and a quarter, and you still lose her in the end