When scandal after scandal breaks in the news
And when this town can’t seem to shake those blues
And when I can’t seem to find my muse
I wonder why I still care.
When this place is run on backroom deals
No whistles blown, no squeaky wheels
And the behind-the-scenes bigshot bribes and steals
I wonder why I still care.
The plans grow stale and the buildings rot
Beyond fancy drawings, we ain’t seen squat
Same players, same old plot
I wonder why I still care.
To build the future we must destroy the past
The pundits proclaim, so bold, so crass
They’re talking straight out their ass
I wonder why I still care.
This place deserves all the shit it gets
The believers leave it with few regrets
It just ain’t worth getting this upset
I wonder why I still care.
But I get in my car almost every day
Drive these streets to catch a faint ray
Of hope that may yet compel me to stay
Though I wonder why I still care.
And then I get out of the car and soak up the sea air
The voices speak, the spirit’s still there
That supernatural vibe you can’t get just anywhere
And I realize why I still care.
Nothing’s gonna pull my roots out of this ground
Nothing can take away the precious thing I found
This town belongs to me, and I belong to this town
And like it or not, I’ll always care.
©2024 The Hesh Inc.
These lyrics were written during my second burst of writing for the Soul In Exile magnum opus, which coincided with a period in which the City of Asbury Park was struggling to pull itself out of its hell years. I often wondered what in the world I was doing there, and why I insisted on staying there when there was any number of better places where I could plant myself without such woes. And then I would drive down to the boardwalk and the ocean, where I was often the only one there, and then I would understand why it all mattered.
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