All the champs and the heroes   They got a price to pay   They go from sixty to zero   In the split of a hair   They see the face in the window   They feel a shadow out there   They've got the places they can go   They've got the people who stare   They've got to walk in their shoes   They've got to see what they see   They've got the people around them   Getting too much for free   All the pimps and the dealers   All the food they can eat   All the screamers and squealers   When they walk down the street   Yeah.      He's just a rich old man   He never cared for anyone   He likes to count his possessions   He's been a miser from penny one   He never cared for his children   Never cared for his wife   Never made anyone happy   That's the way he lived his life   And one day in the sunshine   He got a bolt from the blue   Unloaded all of his possessions   Sold his investments too   And now he lives with the homeless   Owns 900 hospital beds   He prefers to remain nameless   It's publicity he dreads   Yeah.      There's a judge in the city   He goes to work every day   Spends his life in the courthouse   Keeps his perspective that way   But I respect his decision   He's got a lot on his mind   He's pretty good with the gavel   A little heavy on the fines   One day there was this minstrel   Who came to court on a charge   That he blew someone's head off   Because his amp was too large   And the song he was singin'   Was not for love but for cash   Well, the judge waived the charges   He fingered his mustache   Yeah.      Well, there's a clown in a carnival   He rode a painted horse   He came from somewhere out west   He was very funny of course   But that is not what I noticed   It was the incredible force   With which he held his audience   While he rode on his horse   His jokes were not that off-color   His smile was not that sincere   His show was that not that sensational   Reasons for success were not clear   But he still made big money   One day the circus was his   Now he's married to the acrobat   And they're training their kids   Yeah.      Now the jailhouse was empty   All the criminals were gone   The gate was left wide open   And a buck and fawn   Were eating grass in the courtyard   When the warden walked in   And took a rifle from the prison guard   And said to him with a grin   To shoot those deer would be stupid, sir   We already got 'em right here   Why not just lock the gates and keep them   With intimidation and fear?    But the warden pulled the trigger   And those deer hit the ground   He said nobody'll know the difference   And they both looked around.   Yeah.      Well, the cop made the showdown   He was sure he was right   He had all of the lowdown   From the bank heist last night   His best friend was a robber   And his wife was a thief   All the children were murderers   They couldn't get no relief   The bungalow was surrounded   When a voice loud and clear   Come out with your hands up   Or we're gonna blow you out of here   There was a face in the window   Tv cameras rolled   And they cut to the announcer   And the story was told.   Yeah.      Well, the artist looked at the producer   The producer sat back   He said what we have got here   Is a pretty good track   But we don't have a vocal   And we still don't have a song   If we could get this thing accomplished   Nothin' else could go wrong   So he balanced the ashtray   And he picked up the phone   And said send me a songwriter   Who's drifted far from home   And make sure that he's hungry   And make sure he's alone   And send me a cheeseburger   And a new rolling stone   Yeah.      Well, the sioux and dakota   They lost all of their land   And now a basketball player   Is trying to lend them a hand   Maybe someday he'll be president   He's quite a popular man   But now the chief has reservations   And the white man has plans   There's opposition in congress   The bill is up against cash   There's really no way of predicting   If it will fly or it will crash   But that's the nature of politics   That's the name of the game   That's how it looks in the tepee   Big winds are blowing again   Yeah.      There's still crime in the city   Said the cop on the beat   I don't know if I can stop it   I feel like meat on the street   They paint my car like a target   I take my orders from fools   Meanwhile some kid blows my head off   Well, I play by their rules   So now I'm doing it my way   I took the law in my own hands   Here I am in the alleyway   A wad of cash in my pants   I get paid by a ten year old   He says he looks up to me   There's still crime in the city   But it's good to be free   Yeah.      Now I come from a family   That has a broken home   Sometimes I talk to my daddy   On the telephone   When he says that he loves me   I know that he does   But I wish I could see him   Wish I knew where he was   But that's the way all my friends are   Except maybe one or two   Wish I could see him this weekend   Wish I could walk in his shoes   But now I'm doin' my own thing   Sometimes I'm good, then I'm bad   Although my home has been broken   It's the best home I ever had   Yeah.      Well, I keep getting younger   My life's been funny that way   Before I ever learned to talk   I forgot what to say   I sassed back to my mummy   I sassed back to my teacher   I got thrown out of sunday school   For throwin' bibles at the preacher   Then I grew up to be a fireman   I put out every fire in town   Put out everything smoking   But when I put the hose down   The judge sent me to prison   Gave me life without parole   Wish I never put the hose down   Wish I never got old.