Poverty Wind

Music and Lyrics by Sarah Jane Scouten

Magpie Waltz 2011

Your knuckles are bare and red as the sun

Your head pounds like fists in the night

And the woman at home, she said you’re no good

You stepped out ‘cause you know that she’s right

Well good times are found in a bottle and a zip-lock bag
And when you met it was love at first sight

And it’s trouble ahead and a mess to the left and the right

The devil you know, that’s where you’ve been

Out on the poverty wind

It’s eight-fifty an hour, get your ass out of bed

Stand in line and work for the day

For a slave-driving bastard, no better than you

You’re in luck if you ever see your pay

Well you’ve had it bad and it shows in the lines of your face

But it can’t get any worse now you’ve found your place

With those loud mouth, piece of shit nothings that you call friends

It blows hard, and you can’t win

Against the poverty wind

The bar down the street smells like home, you’re supposed to escape

That mildew, second-hand smoke and old brown paint

And the kid is as restless as you were at his damn age

You hope that he won’t, but know that he will

Well good times are found in a bottle and a zip-lock bag

And when you met it was love at first sight

And it’s trouble ahead and a mess to the left and the right

The devil you know, that’s where you’ve been

Out on the poverty wind