My Petersburg

I grew up on the sly

In the gutters and the streets of Petersburg

Just a kid on the fly

Getting good at getting by

In Petersburg

I've bartered for a blanket

Stolen for my bread

Learned to take my chances

And use my head

A Russian rat is clever

Clever or he ends up dead

Boils down to

There are some

Who survive

Some who don’t

Some give up

Some give in

Me, I won’t

Black and blue

Welcome to

My Petersburg

Standing here you can see

From the spires to the piers of Petersburg

I'd be down on that quay

Selling stolen souvenirs of Petersburg

The palaces above

And alleyways below

Funny when a city

Is all you know

How even when you hate it

Something in you loves it so

That's where I learned my stuff

In some rough company

There's a boy growing up

Who was me

All I've been

All I'll be

We can do what we're told

We can go where we're lead

But I learned from my father to see what's ahead

Nothing here to hold me

No one that I owe

Funny how a boy can grow

Funny how a city tells you when it's time to go

Boils down to

There are some

Who have walls

Yet to climb

You and I

On the fly

Just in time

But tonight

There’s a sky

And quite a view

Welcome to

My Petersburg