A song for the plight of the homeless. Edinburgh, like most cities, has many homeless people. What would it be like to see us through their eyes?
I’m a stranger in this country, I’m a stranger in this land
I’m a stranger in this lifetime, I’m a stranger to this hand
I’m a stranger to the hustle and the bustle of the street
And I’m a stranger to the blindness in the eyes of those I meet
I’m familiar with the windings of the closes and the stairs
I’m familiar with the darkness, I can find some comfort there
I’m familiar with the cold that bites my skin and grinds my bones
I’m familiar with the drip drip from the gutters and the rones
Chorus
Don’t know where I’ve been goin’
And I don’t know where I’ve been
Don’t know where I’ve been goin’
For I’m never ever seen
I hear the sounds of drunken laughter spilling out onto the street
I hear the rattle of the beer cans and the shuffling of the feet
I hear the cracking of the knuckles, someone singing in the night
I hear the voices fade to silence, as I wrap myself up tight
(Chorus)
(Instrumental verse)
I can’t be seen by those before me when they look the other way
I can’t be heard by those before me when they don’t know what to say
I can’t exist for those before me when I don’t fit in their life
For I’m the ghost that walks the daylight, I’m the phantom of the night
(Chorus twice round)