The sparrows are lined up like soldiers
On the telephone wires they stand
One hears the call and they all fall together
And they lie at your feet until you raise your hand
Then they rise up and scatter like ashes
And leave you holding nothing but time
And the western sky is on fire tonight
Over on Memorial Drive

Dark-eyed girls with ebony curls
At the end of a hard-working day
Words spoken in Spanish fill the air just like music
Till the outgoing train blows them away
With American dreams and romantic schemes
Roses and a bottle of wine
Till they’re back on the platform on Monday
Out on Memorial drive

And we all fall down, and we all fall down
And the world keeps spinning around and around
And we all fall down

The saints and the sinners on Main and Monroe
They’re juiced up for Saturday night
The singer is singing and nobody’s listening
It’s the smash and the burn that gets ‘em feeling alright
With barbed-wire tattoos and working class blues
They need something to let ‘em know they’re alive
Until 3:00 AM when they go home again
Down on Memorial Drive

The hot dog man’s holding court on the sidewalk
Yeah, he’s working the all-night crowd
With Red Bull and tube steaks and political science
Advice for the lonely, the sad and put-down
He can tell you some stories about winners and losers
The departed and those who survived
The ones who got out and the ones who got lost
Down on Memorial Drive

And we all fall down, and we all fall down
And the world keeps spinning around and around
And we all fall down

The muscle boys are out making noise
They’re all pumped up and ready to go
To the all-night clubs on the east side of town
Where the bass line is thumping and the lights are down low
Some are looking for love, some are looking for trouble
Some will wake up only to find
A half-empty bed and a memory
Of a night on Memorial Drive

On Cookman the poets are spilling their secrets
And hiding behind two-dollar words
Some whisper, some dance, some stand in a trance
Some scream out their message to make sure they’re heard
Some try to make sense, some are full of pretense
Some just want to make it all rhyme
But there’s not much rhyme or reason
Out on Memorial Drive

And we all fall down, and we all fall down
And the world keeps spinning around and around
And we all fall down

That kid from the Yards got in a scuffle last week
For walking too slow after dark
They left him battered and bleeding in front of his house
With two broken ribs and a smashed-up guitar
And when the cops finally showed they said he should have known better
Maybe he’s learned his lesson this time
It’s all part of the game, the victim’s to blame
Down on Memorial Drive

There’s a little man down on the south side of town
Who wears a hat too small for his head
With custom-made suits and high platform boots
To make him look taller, but looks foolish instead
Some say he’s connected, some say he's just lucky
With deep pockets where the cops all reside
But his diamonds and rings won't mean a thing
Down on Memorial Drive

And we all fall down, and we all fall down
And the world keeps spinning around and around
And we all fall down

This town almost burned right down to the ground
On a red-hot 4th of July
Squad cars and fire trucks closed off the highway
And everyone stared and acted surprised
And when the verdict came down the solution was simple
Stay on your side and I’ll stay on mine
Till we all come crashing together again
Down on Memorial Drive

The powers that be pulled their heads from the sand
To decide what to do with this town
Like an old broke-down car they’ll sell it for parts
And let names without faces buy everyone out
Welcome to gentrification
Let me show you right where to sign
Because money talks and the dispossessed walk
Down on Memorial Drive

And we all fall down, and we all fall down
And the world keeps spinning around and around
And we all fall down
The railroad tracks are the color of blood
And the northbound is pulling away
The tall grass catches the trash and the garbage
That comes rolling and tumbling down the empty highway
And suicide’s out of the question
Since the trains have stopped running on time
There’s just death by misadventure
Out on Memorial Drive

The sparrows are lined up like soldiers
On the telephone wires they stand
One hears the call and they all fall together
And they lie at your feet and await your command
And if God’s keeping score, He’s not saying a word
Bets are off till the end of the line....
And the sun's coming up and the moon's going down,
Over Memorial Drive...

And we all fall down, and we all fall down
And the world keeps spinning around and around
And we all fall down