Chicago Is Burning

(album: Ghost Stories - 2000)

We throw out our bodies on the fire and we die,
Settle into ashes as the flames keep piling high
We tossed and spread the kerosene and alcohol,
The ethylene ignited cardboard homes.
The second in a hundred and again as many years
Street signs, skyscrapers and names.
State Street, what a great street
When the places and the people stayed the same.

Winter beats the summer on the worst ones
I fall in love again on the first ones
Carbon vapor lines burn as a grid
Like the burning summer evenings like my fingertips did...

This town is choking on our filth
Obstinate displays of wealth
Clog our Lincoln, Wicker, Rogers parks.
Here's to your health Chicago.
Fiddle as we burn.
Nevermore, nevertheless
Build it up and tear it down and never learn...