Living For The City
Turner Tina & Ike Lyrics

A boy is born in hard time Mississippi
A new life comes into this world in a poor and struggling state in the state of Mississippi

Surrounded by four walls that ain't so pretty
The environment in which this baby is born is not visually pleasing or comfortable

His parents give him love and affection
Despite their circumstances, the baby's parents still provide him with care and nurture

To keep him strong moving in the right direction
The love and affection given to this child is meant to guide him towards success and a better life

Living just enough
This family is only able to survive with the bare minimum resources

Just enough for the city
Their survival only extends to the city- there is no room for more than just enough

His father works some days for fourteen hours
The father works an extremely long day on some occasions

And you can believe he barely makes a dollar
Despite his long working hours, the father is not making enough money to sustain his family

His mother goes to scrub the floors for many
The mother has a job cleaning floors for others

And you'd best believe she hardly gets a penny
Despite her hard work, the mother is not getting paid very much

Her brother's smart he's got more sense than many
The sister also has a brother who is intelligent and wise

His patience's long but soon he won't have any
Although the brother used to be patient, his lack of success in finding a job has worn him out

To find a job is like a haystack needle
Finding work is extremely difficult, almost like trying to find a needle in a haystack

'Cause where he lives they don't use colored people
The community where this family lives discriminates against people of color, making it even harder to find work

For the city
All of these struggles are specific to living in an urban environment