Ordinary People
Neil Young & the Bluenotes Lyrics

Two out of work models and a fashion slave try to dance away the michelob night
People with a bleak future reveling in cheap, bubbly beer and music.

The bartender poured herself another drink, while two drunks sat watchin' the fight
Bartender giving herself a break from the arguing drunks watching the fight.

The champ went down, then he got up again, and then he went out like a light
The fighter who was fighting for a good cause went down and out too easily.

He was fightin' for the people But his timing wasn't right, the high rollin' people Takin' limos in the neon night, las vegas people Who came to see a las vegas fight, fightin' for the people Yeah, yeah
The fighter was fighting for the needy and not the rich, while the rich took limos to view the fight.

There's a man in the window with a big cigar, says everything's for sale The house and the boat and the railroad car, the owner's gotta go to jail
The owner of everything has to sell it all due to ill-gotten wealth and legal issues.

He acquired these things from a life of crime, now he's selling them to make bail He was rippin' off the people Sellin' guns to the underground, livin' off the people Skimmin' the top when there was no one around, tryin' to help the people Lose their ass for a piece of ground, the patch o' ground people Yeah, yeah, yeah
He got rich through criminal activities, then ripped off others by pawning stolen property.

He was dealing antiques in a hardware store but he sure had a lot to hide He had a backroom full of the guns of war and a ton o' ammunition besides Well, he walked with a cane, kept a bolt on the door with five pit bulls inside, Just a warning to the people In case the drunks try to break in at night, protection from the people Selling safety in the darkest night, tryin' to help the people Get the drugs to the street all right, tryin' to help the people Yeah, yeah yeah
He ran an antique shop but was hiding an arsenal and offering tough protection, claiming he's just trying to make ends meet.

Well, it's hard to say where a man goes wrong, might be here and it might be there What starts out weak might get too strong, if you can't tell foul from fair But it's hard to judge from an angry throng of hands stretched into the air The vigilante people Takin' law into their own hands, conscientious people Crackin' down on the druglord and his band, government people Confiscatin' all the dealer's land, patch o' ground people Yeah, yeah
It's hard to tell if someone went wrong, but vigilante justice isn't the best way to handle it.

A new rolls royce and a company car they went flyin' down the street Each one was tryin' to make it to the gate before employees manned the fleet
Upper-class employees racing to get to work before the lower-class employees' fleet departs.

The trucks full of products for the modern home were set to roll out Into the street of ordinary people Tryin' to make their way to work, downtown people Some are saints, and some are jerks [that's me], everyday people Stoppin' for a drink on the way to work, alcoholic people Yeah, yeah, they're takin' it one day at a time
Trucks roll out into the street of struggling working-class people, with various habits and behaviors, on their way to work.

Down on the assembly line, they keep puttin' the same thing out But the people today, they just ain't buyin', nobody can figure it out Well, they try like hell to build a quality end they're workin' hard without a doubt, ordinary people And the dollar's what it's all about, lee iacocca people But the customers are walkin' out, nose-to-the-stone people Yeah, they look but they just don't buy, patch o' ground people Hey, hey hey
Working-class people keep manufacturing products that no one is buying, despite their best quality, as high-level executives are more interested in money than customer satisfaction.

In a dusty town a clock struck high noon, two men stood face to face One wore black and one wore white, but of fear there wasn't a trace
Two men confront each other in a high noon gunfight, with a show of bravery.

A hundred and eighty years later two hot rods drag through the very same place And a half a million people Moved in to pick up the pace, a factory full of people Makin' parts to go to outer space, a train load of people They were leavin' for another place, out of town people Yeah, yeah
Years later, that place is crowded with a factory producing parts for space shuttles and many people commuting and leaving for other places.

Down at the factory, they're puttin' new windows in The vandals made a mess of things, and the homeless just walked right in Well, they worked here once, and they live here now but they might work here again they're ordinary people They're just livin' in a dream, hard workin' people Just don't know what it means to give up people Just like they used to be, patch o' ground people
Homeless and unemployed individuals were breaking into a factory, but their former co-workers might have to work alongside them, with everyone being general working-class hardworkers.

Out on the railroad track, they're cleanin' ol' number nine They're scrubbin' the boiler down, she really is lookin' fine Times'll be different soon, they're gonna bring her back on line Ordinary people They're gonna bring the good things back, hard workin' people Put the business back on track, everyday people I got faith in the regular kind, patch o' ground people Yeah, yeah
Working-class people are repairing old train equipment to bring them back to life and therefore bring back good things and put the business back on track.