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Where Zero Meets 15 Lyrics
My car broke down in Arizona
Have to ride the bus again
At ten-o-clock on Tuesday night
With thirteen cents and a broken pen
I put my backpack on the bench
Tell two people I don't smoke
See the cop across the street
He thinks that I am selling dope
I could have walked another block
To get away from the scene
Why does it always come to this
Where the zero meets the fifteen
So I gave my thirteen cents
To teh man who peed his pants
He passes out and falls on me
I watch my change fall from his hand
I see the lady next to me
Holds her baby black and blue
The junkie gutter-punks keep asking
Where i got my new tattoo
Why does it matter anyway
Thirteen cents or all I own
How can I ever save the world
On cup-o-soups and student loans
And I want to try and save the world
But it never goes that way
God I don't know what to do
Down at Colfax and Broadway
Now the man with no shoes on
Says I don't know how to play
He says I fumble all the time
he thinks that I am john elway
I put my face down in my hands
Water wells inside my eyes
What do I have to give them
What does it matter if i try
I can't stand to see you suffer
I try to intellectualize
A formula to end your pain
It doesn't work
God knows i've tried
And I want to try and save the world
But it never goes that way
God I don't know what to do
Down at Colfax and Broadway
Sometimes my cup is overfilled
Sometimes I'm too afraid
That I am going to spill
And I want to try and save the world
But it never goes that way
God I don't know what to do
Down at Colfax and Broadway
Have to ride the bus again
At ten-o-clock on Tuesday night
With thirteen cents and a broken pen
I put my backpack on the bench
Tell two people I don't smoke
See the cop across the street
He thinks that I am selling dope
I could have walked another block
To get away from the scene
Why does it always come to this
Where the zero meets the fifteen
To teh man who peed his pants
He passes out and falls on me
I watch my change fall from his hand
I see the lady next to me
Holds her baby black and blue
The junkie gutter-punks keep asking
Where i got my new tattoo
Why does it matter anyway
Thirteen cents or all I own
How can I ever save the world
On cup-o-soups and student loans
But it never goes that way
God I don't know what to do
Down at Colfax and Broadway
Says I don't know how to play
He says I fumble all the time
he thinks that I am john elway
I put my face down in my hands
Water wells inside my eyes
What do I have to give them
What does it matter if i try
I try to intellectualize
A formula to end your pain
It doesn't work
God knows i've tried
But it never goes that way
God I don't know what to do
Down at Colfax and Broadway
Sometimes I'm too afraid
That I am going to spill
But it never goes that way
God I don't know what to do
Down at Colfax and Broadway
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I've spent more of my young life living out in the boonies of terryall colorado... homeless and poverty was something that i knew.
but when i moved to denver for school - about the time i started listening to FiF - i was horrified at the cultural shock.
I actually catch the bus (the 6) at colfax and broadway. this song perfectly expresses how i feel sitting there every night . I don't think i've ever felt so small and unhelpful before... it seems that most of my schoolmates don't even bat an eye to these people...
even if the song can't tell me what to do, it at least lets me know that people do care, and are as lost as me. it's.... strangly encouraging to keep trying at least...
This song refers to Colfax and Broadway, an intersection in Denver, CO, where the 0 bus (Broadway) meets the 15 bus (Colfax). It's a very sketchy part of town, even though it's right near the capitol. Actually, most of both streets are sketchy, and Colfax especially is notorious for prostitution, drugs, gang warfare, and homelessness.
I just finished a year working with the homeless in Denver and really identify with the lines:
"How can I ever save the world, on cup-o-soup and student loans? I want to try and save the world, but it never goes that way. God I don’t know what to do, down at Colfax and Broadway."
My job there paid very poorly, as do most service jobs staffed by idealistic young people who are trying to save the world. And after an amount of time it really does seem like it "never goes that way."
I love this song cause I think everyone can relate at some point in their life, expecially Christians. I mean just listen to the lyrics "I want to try and save the world, but it never goes that way. God I don’t know what to do" or "What do I have to give them? Does it matter if I try? I can’t stand to see you suffer, I try to intellectualize, a formula to end you pain, it doesn’t work, God knows I’ve tried." We all try to help someone or bail people out and sometimes it just doesn't work. I love this song! FIF are brilliant!
Oh yeah, I can relate to that song. Especially to the part "How can I ever save the world, on cup-o-soup and student loans?" lol.
The point is that no matter how hard we try we can never fulfill what God has planned for us. We need to come to him with empty jars (like Elisha told the widow to do) and empty nets (like the disciples had) and he will fill them more then enough. The widow has enough money to pay off her debt and live the rest of her life and the disciples' nets broke. That's the point.
Come to God with an empty cup, not one that is half-ful and overfilled, one that will spill.