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City With No Walls

from One Night by Jim Ballard

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about

After visiting Last Chance Village, a 'tent city' for homeless people, Jim came away with these impressions

lyrics

City With No Walls

I’ve seen bagmen under bridges where the campfire girls make their deals Where the taxis take no riders and the angels ain’t got no wheels
And in the smoky hours of twilight frownin’
I hear my name called and I look down an’
See my boots kick the concrete curbside stalls
Where the City’s got no walls...

All the dancin’ eyed hobos, their pockets full o’ promises
Find the answer to their hunger in the cloud covered emptiness
They know it ain’t no use to keep the doorman waitin’
They can smell the rain they know its gettin’ late n’
The wind is gatherin’ prowlin’ dancin’ howlin’ through the halls
Where the City’s got no walls...

In the shadow of the canyons in the alleys where the sun comes up blue Written in the overcast sleep the ones who keep fallin’ through
And it hangs in the sky by gossamer webs
Morning to night it flows and it ebbs
And its warm then its gone then its gone and that’s all
Where the City’s got no walls...

Then the sloe eyed drummer taps off eight to the crowd’s delight
His brushes and his digits beating wild in the black hole night
And he wakes to the dancers gathered all ‘round
Swayin’ out of time to the steam-grate sound
Of the souls and the heels and the underground waterfalls
Where the City’s got no walls...

Now the blindman stumbles in the stairway as he taps his cane
Hears footsteps up above in the dark and dusty subterrain
Where the doorways have dreamers days spent in dives
Who’s treasures are the flotsam of all the other lives
Whose ironbound pillow carries no dreams at all

The famous gypsy wire walker starts his journey in the evening air
He works without a net as the crowd is gatherin’ in the square
He knows he’s rollin’ it all on this one trick

He ain’t ever had a fall but now he’s starin’ at the bricks
While all the faces passin’ by him down below him all begin to call
Where the city got no walls...

Well now the girls by the fires and the hobos starin’ at the flames
Got one eye on the doorman while the taxi driver’s takin’ names
And the drummer’s rollin’ cadence in the alleyway
While the crowd in the square has all drifted away
And they’re takin’ down the wires from the buildings that once were so tall
Where the city got no walls... Where the city’s got no walls....

© Jim Ballard/HandMade Music 2020 All Rights Reserved

credits

from One Night, released December 2, 2020
Jim Ballard Vocals, Guitar and harmonica
Wes McCraw Lead Guitar
Tim Longfellow Organ
Bill Watson Bass
Joe Lang Drums

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Jim Ballard Akron, Ohio

Jim Ballard
A native of NE Ohio, Jim Ballard has been, for many years a part of the recording/performing community. After touring and performing all over the country with artists from 10,000 Maniacs to Gordon Lightfoot,The Mekons to Pete Seeger, he moved into his studio, Skylyne. There, he has recorded and worked with artists from Michael Stanley to Don Dixon and Alex Bevan. ... more

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