The Crock of Gold

Lyrics

[Intro] We'll live out our lives on this dirty old street Only because we just can't compete But in the concrete of our younger days, we left our names Just like the people before When they reached the distant shore With their drinks and their dance and their dreams And sincere aims All ghosts long gone, through old buildings they stare With their offspring staring at me, for they are still there Dreams that are dead and lives not realized Why did we write our names in these streets, to show we're alive? [Verse 1] Well, Chicago is my home and I'll never want to roam To live on any sun swept distant shore Well, it is where I was reared by forbearers so revered And I sing the songs that they all sang before [Verse 2] Any woman that's neared me has been repelled most thoroughly Still I'm a lover God, I am foremost of all A musician that's my call of high degree professional But I'm afraid I do not know my trade at all [Chorus] And if it's every twenty years, some small relief to me appears Then the crock of gold will wait until that day To defend myself no more, lay the shield of anger at my door And the sword of alcohol will stow away [Verse 3] All the people in our town are overworked and broken down Begging cheques but it's just not enough they're giving Crying quietly, living life so desperately That something has to make this life worth living [Verse 4] Real life is only a timeline and the excitement holds the short times It will never measure up to what TV sells as great All the drunken jokes and views, exciting pubs they tell the news But the exciting parts, well, they just weren't all that great [Chorus] And if it's every twenty years, some small relief to me appears Then the crock of gold will wait until that day To defend myself no more, lay the shield of anger at my door And the sword of alcohol will stow away [Verse 5] I met a girl one night and enchantment fixed our sight So we decided we would hold it for a while But she would not love me, so inside me finally said It's not your fault, but I would like love if only for a while [Verse 6] Well, it's on and on I've seen, yeah that's how it's always been And how it will be as ever on I go Oh, but ever on I will, through all the banal times until I find some place to me that seems like home [Chorus] And if it's every twenty years, some small relief to me appears Then the crock of gold will wait until that day To defend myself no more, lay the shield of anger at my door And the sword of alcohol will stow away