Papa hit him, kissed him Made him go to With the sisters in their and white And all the time those city Were teaching him kind of wisdom When to run and when to Up at the playground after Listening to tales of the system And lawless avenues Down on a half street A footsteps repeat And something there them Down lawless avenues Joe went down so bad He was the strongest the avenues had Stabbed in the chest-- he went swinging Someone some other part of town No one seen it coming down And you don't hear no bells ringing And in the night the police light Sweeps across the and the yards Following lawless avenues Down on a half darkened Armies advance and And struggle to control From those lawless Manuelito's Rosa Ran away with a surfer from Manuelito, cuida a Hay como estan las cosas! (Manuelito, take care of Look at how are) But who could blame her she saw Every boy die who could gotten close to her Rosa es y solo quiere ver la del mundo (Rosa is young and only to see the of the world) said-- "You gotta fight for what you in this life" Just before they shipped him to 'Nam Otra sin razon Otra sin fin, sin honor (Another war reason war without end, without honor) And she was to understand When they shipped Manuelito's body All she heard was one shot down lawless avenues Hoy amigo, tal igual ayer, La lucha en el barrio no hijos son los que han de crecer Por ley de la calle, viviendo abrazos Y (Today my friend, just yesterday, The struggle in the doesn't change Our children are the to grow up By the law of the street, between hugs and blows) Down on a half darkened Fathers' and sons' lives And something there them Down those lawless En el de la calle (In the of the street) el valor en la calle (Looking for in the street) Hasta final de la (Till the end of the street)