Only an immigrant He heard his name being called From the city ‘cross the river his streak of luck would crawl Bound in expectation Of a promised land The streets of gold and dreams of old Had slipped his hands
Only an immigrant He made his plans A practical solution For a desperate man He packed his dago pride And a six gun head The one he’d seen in movies Down at the five and ten In which they said it’d be different If you played your luck A little blood sweat and tears Is all it took
Only an immigrant It didn’t work that way So he took that long low ride To the pay off place Underneath the river To the upper side The car sped through the heat Of a vision tied In the tears and dissolution Of an immigrant’s pride Blind in love and sorrow For a broken dream That died and was reborn In this perfect scheme
Only an immigrant The bullets flew The women screamed And the cops they beamed As the guns blazed blue And as the smoke it cleared A puddle grew Red as roses round a man That no one knew “Where’s he from?” someone said No one had a clue All they knew Was he was only an immigrant