Living on the Streets of LA

It’s 2019, and looking around
At the tents and trash and excrement scattered on the ground
So many mansions overlooking the sea
Stretch limos, Rolls Royces and movie stars all over Los Angeles County

It’s 2019, and one thing I know
Is most people wish we could rewind to a couple of decades ago
Before the rents tripled and folk began to move out
Into their cars, then into their tents, where drivers look on, however loudly you shout

It’s 2019, but in a black and white photo
It could be 1929 wherever you go
In every single neighborhood, hungry people wonder why
Some make billions on a blockbuster, while so many are left out to die

It’s 2019, where every eight hours
Someone is found cold on the sidewalk beneath the glass and steel towers
In the wealthiest nation in all of human history
So far from paradise, so close to Walt Disney

It’s 2019, there’s no dust bowl
Just real estate speculators and all the lives they stole
I don’t know what to think when I hear the reporter say
A thousand people died last year, living on the streets of LA

It’s 2019