See How We Are

There are men lost in jail
Crowded fifty to a room
There's too many rats in this cage of the world
And the women know their place
They sit home and write letters
And when they visit once a year
Well they both just sit there and stare

See how we are
Gotta keep bars in between us
See how we are
We only sing about it once in every twenty years
See how we are
Oh see how we are

Now there are seven kinds of Coke
500 kinds of cigarettes
This freedom of choice in the USA drives everybody crazy
But in Acapulco
Well they don't give a damn
About kids selling Chiclets with no shoes on their feet

See how we are
"Hey man, what's in it for me?"
See how we are
We only sing about it once in every twenty years
See how we are
Oh see how we are

Now that highway's coming through
So you all gotta move
This bottom rung ain't no fun at all
No fires and rockhouses and grape-flavored rat poison
They are the new trinity
For this so-called community

See how we are
Gotta keep bars on all of our windows
See how we are
We only sing about it once in every twenty years
See how we are
Oh see how we are

Well this morning the alarm rang at noon
And I'm trying to write this letter to you
About how much I care and why I just can't be there
To draw your bath and comb...and comb your hair

Last night in a nightspot
Where things aren't so hot
My friend said, "I met a boy and I'm in love"
I said, "Oh really... What's this one's name?"
She said, "His first name is Homeboy"
I said "Could his last name be Trouble?"

See how we are
Ah Homeboy... Isn't that a Mexican name?
See how we are
We only sing about it once in every twenty years
See how we are
Oh see how we are
Yeah see how we are