We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/

about

Jeni & Billy wrote this song for the children of West Baltimore.

lyrics

Down on McHenry street the sidewalk glitters
with broken glass bottles and household litter
houses are vacant, burned out and shuttered
and weeds grow knee high in the cracks of the gutter

While the sign on the trash can says to believe
and the sign on the fire house seems to agree
Believe in Jesus, Believe in Baltimore,
Believe in something you ain’t never seen before

Kids make guns and flags, pickins from scraps of trash
or sit on their front stoops just kicking at the glass
and there ain’t no happy, and there ain’t no sad
there’s just thinking maybe this ain’t so bad

While the sign on the trash can says to believe
and the sign on the fire house seems to agree
Believe in Jesus, Believe in Baltimore,
Believe in something you ain’t never seen before

There ain’t no promise it’s gonna get right
with a citywatch camera and a flashing blue light
but down on McHenry Street the sidewalk glitters
with broken glass bottles and household litter

credits

from Live in LA with the Big Picnic Band, track released May 1, 2015
© Jeni Hankins & Billy Kemp

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Jeni Hankins London, UK

Jeni Hankins grew up in the coalfields of Appalachian in Southwest Virginia among a family of miners, moonshiners, and journalists. Her writing pulls the grit, gumption, and keen sense of observation out of that heritage like drawing water from her grandmother’s well.

In every song, Jeni’s “true sense of place shines through – old as the hills, but brand new at the same time.”
... more

contact / help

Contact Jeni Hankins

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this track or account

Jeni Hankins recommends:

If you like Jeni Hankins, you may also like: