I was born in a city they call the Windy City.
Now, they called it the Windy City because of the hawk, the almighty hawk.
That's Mr. Wind, boy, and he's mean in the wintertime.
I happen to have lived on a street that was a dead-end street scene.
And I lived right at the end of the block, where there was nothing to stop the wind and the elements
to keep them from blowing right into my house.
I mean, really, socking it to us in the wintertime.
You see, in Chicago in the winter, when the boilers would burst and the heat was all gone,
we would have to get fully dressed to go to bed if we didn't want to freeze in our sleep.
I'd put on everything but my goulashes, because they had buckles on them, see.
And my grandmother didn't play that.
No, she didn't. She'd say,
Boy, if you get in the bed with them goulashes on, I'll try my best to kill you, fool.
Is you crazy?
If you've never been there, you should go there certain months of the year
and go into particular parts of town, like downtown around Michigan and Wacker Drive on the lakefront.
And you'll notice...
that they put ropes on some of the buildings to help folks get around the corners.
That's right, because the wind's coming off the lake like a giant razor blade, baby,
and it's cutting everything in sight.
It don't miss a thing.
You can't have an opening anywhere, because if you do, it's instant frostbite.
You talk about socking it to you?
In Chicago, the hawk socks it through you, to the bone, like a giant razor blade, all the way, baby.
Well, now...
Now, let me...
Let me tell you, they said, this is a big, rich town, but I lived in the poorest part.
And I was raised on a dead-end street in a city without a heart or love.
And I learned to fight before I was six, the only way that I could get along.
But when you're raised on a dead-end street,
you've got to be tough and strong.
Now, all the guys that know are getting in trouble.
That's how it's always been, when the odds are all against you.
How can you win?
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
No, no, yeah.
Now, let me tell you, I'm gonna push my way on out of here,
even though I cannot say.
When I'm gonna get off of the dead-end street,
and I'm never going back there to live again,
never, no.
I'm gonna push my way on out of here,
even though I cannot say.
I'm gonna push my way on out of here,
even though I cannot say.
I'm gonna push my way on out of here,
even though I cannot say.
When I'm gonna get off of that dead-end street,
and I'm never going back there to live again,
never, no.
No.
I'll never go back to live on the dead-end street no more.
Y'all take care, and thank you so very much.
Because I'm gonna get me a job on my own.
Save my dough, now, yeah.
And I'll get on the way from here,
and I won't go back to live there.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no.
Oh, yeah!
Thank you.
Thank you.