Key: A
Introduction:
D D5/A G/D A D
G A
verse 1
D
Papa hit him, Mama kissed him
G A
Made him go to Catechism
D G AA4 Asus4/E
With the sisters in their black and white
D
And all the time those city streets
G A D
Were teaching him another kind of wisdom
G AA4 Asus4/E
When to run and when to fight
D
Up at the playground after school
G A Bm G
Listening to tales of the prison system
A D G D AA4 Asus4/E
And those lawless avenues
D G AA4 Asus4/E
Dawn on a half darkened street
D G AA4 Asus4/E
A child's footsteps repeat
D
And something there turns them
G A D G AA4 Asus4/E
Down those lawless avenues
verse 2
D
Silent Joe went down so bad
G A D
He was the strongest fighter the avenues had
G AA4 Asus4/E
Stabbed in the chest--he went down swinging
D
Someone from some other part of town
G A D
No one even seen it coming down
G AA4 Asus4/E
And you don't hear no church bells ringing
G
And in the violent night the police light
Bm G
Sweeps across the lots and the yards
A D G AA4 Asus4/E
Following those lawless avenues
D G AA4 Asus4/E
Down on a half darkened street
D G AA4 Asus4/E
Armies advance and retreat
D
And struggle to take control
G A D G AA4 Asus4/E
From those lawless avenues
verse 3
D
Manuelito's sister Rosa
G A D
Ran away with a surfer from Hermosa
Manuelito, cuida a Rosa
G A D G AA4 Asus4/E
Hay mira como estan las cosas!
D
But who could blame her after she saw
G A D
Every boy die who could have gotten close to her
Rosa es joven u solo quiere
G A D
Ver la belleza del mundo
G
Manuel said-- "You gotta fight for what you want in this life"
A D
Just before they shipped him overseas to 'Nam
Otra guerra sin razon
G A
Otra guerra sin fin, sin honor
D
And she was fighting to understand
G A Bm
When they shipped Manuelito's body home
G A G
All she heard was- one more shot
A D
Echoing down lawless avenues
Bridge
G D G
Hoy amigo, tal igual como ayer
G A D
La lucha en el barrio no cambia
G D G
Nuestros hijos son los que han de crecer
G A D
Por ley de la calle, viviendo entre abrazos
A
Y chingazos
D G AA4 Asus4/E
D G AA4 Asus4/E
Down on a half darkened street
D G AA4 Asus4/E
Fathers' and sons' lives repeat
D
And something there turns them
G A D G AA4 Asus4/E
Down those lawless avenues
Outro
D G A
Down on a half darkened street (En el calor de la calle)
D G A
Down on a half darkened street (Buscan valor en la calle)
D G A
Down on a half darkened street (Hasta final de la calle)
...