Little black girl, in a red dress, on a hot night with a broken shoe
Little black girl, you should've never left home
There's probably someone still waitin' up for you
It's cold back in Chicago but the Los Angeles street is worse
All you got is twenty-nine dollars and an alligator purse
See that vulture in the Fleetwood with the chartreuse hood
Sees you're tryin' to get your bearings
Say hey baby which way's the main stem
Wherever you say you're from, he'll say he grew up there himself
He gonna come on and make you feel like you grew up right next door to him
Take a left on Central, he gonna throw it in reverse
All you got is twenty-nine dollars and an alligator purse
He gonna come on just like a gentleman
And oh baby you're gonna be a little shy
You say your ex-old man was a sax player, he says Baby I used to play bass with Sly
And you say you like his Cadillac, says honey I got two or three
Sweetheart you're sure fortunate that you ran into me
You've done a dime in the joint you figure nothin' could be worse
Than twenty-nine dollars and an alligator purse
Got Pharoh on 8-track you start smokin' a little boo
Thinkin' gettin' out of Chicago was just about the best thing that's ever happened to you
You startin' to like it already this cat seems to be cool
I know a good old jailhouse in West-Hollywood, be just right for you
He ain't no good Samaritan he gonna make sure he's reimbursed
A lot more than twenty-nine dollars and an alligator purse
And when the streets get hungry baby and you almost hear em growl
Someones savin a place for you when the dogs begin to howl
And the streets are dead they creep up and take whatever's left on the bone
And remember suckers always make mistakes, when they're far away from home
Chicken in the pot, whoever gets there first is gonna get themselves
Twenty-nine dollars and an alligator purse
And the siren's just an epilogue, the cops here always get there too late
They always stop for coffee on their way to the scene of the crime
They always try so hard to look just like movie stars
But they couldn't catch a cold, baby don't waste your dime
She's lucky to be alive the doctor whispered to the nurse
She only lost half a pint of blood twenty-nine dollars and an alligator purse
repeat instrumental to fade out
Love and peace