In the Heat of the Summer (Phil Ochs)

Lyrics

In the heat of the summer

When the pavements were burnin'

Soul of a city was ravaged in the night

After the city sun was sinkin'

Now, no one knows how it started

Why the windows were shattered

But deep in the dark someone set the spark

And then it no longer mattered

Down the street they were rumblin'

All the tempers were ragin'

Oh, where, oh, where are the white silver tongues

Who forgot to listen to the warnings?

On and on came the angry

No longer following reason

And all the stores were the target now

Where just the other day they were buyin'

Drunk with the memory of the ghetto

Drunk with the lure of the looting

And the memory of the uniforms shoving with their sticks

Askin', "Are you looking for trouble?"

"No, no, no, " moaned the mayor

"It's not the way of the order"

"Oh, stay in your homes, please leave us alone

We'll be glad to talk in the morning"

"For shame, for shame, " wrote the papers

"Why the hurry to your hunger?"

"Now the rubble's resting on your broken streets

So see what your rage has unraveled"

Barricades sadly were risin'

Bricks were heavily flyin'

And the loudspeaker drowned like a whisperin' sound

When compared to the angered emotions

And when the fury was over

And the shame was replacing the anger

So wrong, so wrong, but we've been down too long

And we had to make somebody listen

In the heat of the summer