This city’s never gonna come back
As long as the negativity rules
As long as business is conducted as usual
And we the people are led around like fools
No matter where the best intentions are
This place still remains a slice of hell
Until the people gets its act together
All that’ll remain is a burned-out shell.
Asbury Park, you break my heart
City of dreams and hopes and false starts
Your charm and grace are faded and concealed
But the day will come when you will be healed.
We have paid the price for a lack of vision
The only steps taken are the dance of death
As long as bad faith remains the rule
We’ll never see our rightful share of wealth
No kind words for those self-described saints
Who in the name of progress would decimate the past
No respect for all the factotums
Whose iconoclasm runs between obnoxious and crass.
Asbury Park, you break my heart ...
This city means too much to too many
For just one vision to conquer the rest
All will have to be realized
For us to take our proper place with the best
All the urban ills will need to be resolved
But just the same, the landmarks must be preserved
Without a return to positive flow
The resuming desolation will be deserved.
Asbury Park, you break my heart ...
©2023 The Hesh Inc.
This song is a Soul In Exile outtake, written when the city had not quite yet shed its decades of corruption. Never recorded or performed.
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