Rats In The Hallway
Rancid (USA) Lyrics

Knock knock
Someone is knocking on the door

Come in
The person is being invited in

You want to fight
The person is angry and wants to argue or physically fight

I'm gonna win
The artist is confident in their ability to win the argument or fight

I'll take you out
The artist is threatening the person

In a minute
The singer will take action soon

Step in my flat
The person is being invited into the singer's apartment

See what's in it
The artist is challenging the person to see how messy and dirty their living space is

I live in the land of welfare state
The artist lives in a country that provides government assistance to those in need

My flat used to be section eight
The artist used to live in a low-income housing complex

Now it's a rat infested cocaine run
The singer's apartment is now infested with rats as a result of drug use that occurs there

My whole worlds plays like a broken drum
The artist's life is hectic and chaotic

Get up get out go ahead and ride away
The singer is telling someone to leave the apartment and get away

Sit up our bed up your bed to lay
The singer is implying that the person is not welcome to stay overnight

Kick up our rip up this place apart
The singer wants to destroy everything in the apartment

Even when I'm finished I'm back at the start I'm out of line
The artist feels lost and hopeless

At Adeline St. heat don't keep the crooked beat four am
The artist lives on Adeline St. which is noisy all night long

No waves breaking what's left of the pm the am has taken
There is no calm or quiet time during the day or night

Outside my gate my crew is drinking a forty
The singer's friends are outside drinking beer

Oz the asked my if there's still rats in the hallway
The artist's friend is asking if the rat problem is still present

I said somethings ain't like the weather
The artist is implying that some things never change

They never change for the better
The artist is pessimistic that things will improve

This girl came up to me she said she would do me no harm
A girl approached the singer and claimed to mean no harm

Rolled up her sleeve and shoved me the tracks on her arm
The girl showed the artist the track marks on her arm indicating drug use

I said what's your name she said Mya
The girl's name is Mya

She said Tim, want to take you higher
The girl is offering the singer drugs

Zombie walking kid out on his own with no morals
A young person is aimlessly wandering around with no sense of right and wrong

Mr. High leaves the body in comes mr withdrawal
The artist feels like they are stuck in a cycle of getting high and then feeling withdrawal symptoms

Pain is the only thing the body will alow
The artist is feeling physical pain due to drug use

The kid wants to dance the gangsters knows how
The young person wants to have fun but is being led astray by bad influences

Johnny bought some shit down on market
A person named Johnny bought drugs on the street

Street shoot up boot up the human target
A person was used as a target to test out a new gun

He hit the dirty spike when he hit the scene
Johnny injected himself with drugs when he arrived on the scene

It's easy to stay dirty when nothing is clean johnny's a writer
Johnny is a talented writer but chooses a life of crime and drug use instead

Who tags up jackel jackel just clamped on unclampable shackels
Someone is spray painting graffiti on a wall

Rout up shoot up some dope to go
Someone is using drugs

Like legal currency it's money it's like that
Drug use is so common that it feels like a form of currency

Rat tat tat kid got shot point blank in the back my land lord said
Someone was shot and killed near the apartment complex and the landlord responded insensitively

Not to be bumming he was on cocaine stoop and he had it coming he had it coming?
The landlord is suggesting that the victim deserved to be killed because he was using drugs

He was only twelve years old he was in the blizzard he got shot for being cold
A young child was killed in the freezing cold weather

It don't seem right tonight hit the lights alright
The artist is feeling uneasy about what has occurred

Watch the roaches run into the darkest room
The singer is observing cockroaches scurrying around the dark apartment

Drunken bum
The singer is insulting someone who is drunk and homeless

Rats in the hallway again
The apartment complex is infested with rats that are constantly present