I've got a third floor room above a New York alley
with a brick wall view that’s seen it’s better times
and outside that Spanish woman’s laundry
is sagging lifeless on my telephone wire
We all want to be remembered here for something
and if it's jobs or legs or money we don’t care
It's like some desperate attempt to keep on living
beyond truths that seem so perfectly unfair
Chorus:
So here I am in spite of you
where traffic jams and people move
in nervous ways, they’re all afraid
that this is all there is
Been going broke and losing out
but nothing here can scare me now
the best of plans can fall apart
but I'm still alive and I can stand
so that's a start
All the boys hang out around the schoolyard fences
tossing nickels at the skirts that hurry by
with Winstons and old worn leather jackets
they've all taught themselves to callous not to cry
As for me I didn't run here from a bad past
and I didn't come here trying to put things right
I’m just too stubborn now to turn back
and I'm too hungry not to put up a fight
Chorus:
So here I am in spite of you
where traffic jams and people move
in nerous ways, they're all afraid
that this is all there is
Been going broke and losing out
but nothing here can scare me now
the best of plans can fall apart
but I'm still alive and I can stand
so that's a start
Yeah well here I am in spite of you
where traffic jams and people move
in nervous ways, we're all afraid
that this is all there is
Been changing jobs and dashing hopes
I've been strung along and let go
but the best of plans can fall apart
and I'm still alive and it's not so bad
so that's a start
We all want to be remembered here for something. And with money, power, and sex, we thrive on the illusion that we just might live forever. But when you're going broke, changing jobs, and nothing about it seems beautiful, that's when the truth really hits home. There's nothing to lose when you’ve been stripped of everything. Plans fall apart, hopes are crushed, and a future unravels in the span of a moment. But with some will and the persistence to keep standing, I find out that all I ever could control was everything I still have.