Gotta Get Out of the City for Awhile Lyrics

Moved to the city the other day,

Less to be there than to get away

I got a quarter of the space I had, and the rent it costs a pile

My roommates all work through the night

Come home at dawn put out the lights

Sleep all day and all afternoon

Wake up again when they can see the moon

Their trash all through the apartment's strewn

They say I'll be like them pretty soon

I think I gotta get out of the city—for a while

Time came when I should've wrote

I sent a postcard to my folks

Dear Ma, I'm so depressed I've forgotten how to smile

Nobody knows my name

And every day is about the same

The sun comes up and the sun goes down

People just trine to move around

Everybody wears a frown

You say hello, they look at the ground

I think I gotta get out of the city—for a while

My coat's dirty, tattered, torn

My pants is old and warped and worn

My boots is so full up of holes and get worse with every mile

Walkin round here and there

It's hard to make it most anywhere

Trucks a honkin, trolley's squeakin

Trains a rumbling, cars a beepin

At 3 am the neighbor's screamin

Fore you know it, I'll be leavin

I think I gotta get out of the city—for a while

I was bred in the place I'm from

But here I feel just like a crumb

When you're used to woods and mountains, the city's what seems wild

Sometimes people start to yell

What at, though, you can't always tell

Hey—what're you lookin at?

Hey—how are you doin, cat?

What do you know? How bout that?

Look out you don't step on that rat

I think I gotta get out of the city for a while

A good job has been hard to find

That'll keep you out of the daily grind

Every morning its like herded sheep, all in single file

The workers come in from outside

In a car or bus or train they ride

The builders build the buildings tall

Back you right up against the wall

Make you feel that you're pretty small

Til you got no room to yourself at all

I think I gotta get out of the city for a while

Folks tell me in a while I'll see

A change start to come over me

You'll still think you're miserable but you'll just be in denial

You'll get away for a week or two

Go to the shore, take in the view

Youll miss the sidewalks and the throng

They'll sing to you like a siren-song

You'll see you've loved it all along

You'll start to feel like something's wrong:

You'll think you gotta get back to the city for a while