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Dying on the Sidewalk

from It's Been A Year by Virtual Bird and David Rovics

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Over 100 people have been dying on the streets and sidewalks of Portland, Oregon each year, in recent years. Sometimes they die because someone points a gun into their tent and shoots them because they're homeless. This appears to be how a young man named Harold Andrew Major died, a few blocks from my apartment, just beside the track field for Cleveland High School on 33rd Avenue Southeast.

lyrics

Dying On The Sidewalk

Just down the road from here someone was shot
Thirty-one years, all the time he got
On Thirty-third Avenue, next to Cleveland High
Beside the street as I pass by
He was living in a tent – was that why
Someone decided he had to die?

In the halls of power, politicians talk
While their citizens are dying on the sidewalk

They declared a housing crisis years ago
What that means, no one seems to know
They'll pay for a few condos, complain about the bubble
Ignoring the fact that the rent just doubled
While paying close attention to the money men
Who they hope will get them elected again

Chorus

It's like they're talking about dirt, sweep them out of here
With people dying all around us every year
Over a hundred gone in 2019 alone
Those who don't get shot, get frozen to the bone
Because the wind never blew and the sky never cried
Like it did for all of those living outside

Chorus

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from It's Been A Year, released May 28, 2021

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David Rovics Portland, Oregon

Singer/songwriter, writer, podcaster (on Spotify, Substack & Patreon), anarchist, dad, lover of life.

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