I would have returned your greeting   If it weren't for the way you were looking at me   This street is not a market   And I am not a commodity      Don't you find it sad that we can't even say hello   'Cause you're a man and I'm a woman   And the sun is getting low   There are some places that I can't go      As a woman I can't go there   And as a person I don't care   I don't go for the 'Hey baby, what's your name?'   And I'd alone thank you just the same      I am up again against the skin of my guitar   In the window of my life looking out through the bars   I am sounding out the silence avoiding all the words   I'm afraid I've said too much, I'm afraid of who has heard me      My father, he told me the story and it was true for his time   But now the story's different, maybe I should tell him mine   All the girls line up here, all the boys on the other side   I see your ranks are advancing, I see mine are left behind      I am up again against the skin of my guitar   In the window of my life looking out through the bars   I am sounding out the silence avoiding all the words   I'm afraid I can never say enough, I'm afraid no one has heard me      And despite all the balls that I've been thrown   And forced to drop on the social totem pole   I'm preciously close to the top   They put you in your place and they tell you to behave   But no one can be free until we're all on even grade      And I would have returned your greeting   If it weren't for the way you were looking at me