There's blacks with knives and whites with clubs
  fighting in Howard Beach
  There's no such thing as human rights
  when you walk the N.Y.streets
  A cop was shot in the head by a 10 years old kid
  named Buddah in Central Park last week
  The fathers and daughters are lined up by the coffins
  by the Statue of Bigotry, hey
  
  You better hold on
  something's happening here
  You better hold on
  well I meet you in Tompkins Square
  
  The dopers sent a message to the cops last weekend
  they shot him in the car where he sat
  And Eleanor Bumpers and Michael Stewart
  must have appreciated that
  There's a rampaging rage rising up like a plague
  of bloody vials washing up on the beach
  It'll take more than the Angels or Iron Mike Tyson
  to heal this bloody breach, hey, hey
  
  You better hold on
  something's happening here
  You better hold on
  I'm gonna meet you in Tompkins Square
  
  A junkie ran down a lady a pregnant dancer
  she'll never dance but the baby was saved
  He shot up some China White and nodded out at the wheel
  and he doesn't remember a thing
  They shot that old lady 'cause they thought she was a witness to
  a crime she didn't even see
  Whose home is the home of the brave
  by the Statue of Bigotry, hey
  
  You better hold on
  something's happening here
  You better hold on
  meet you in Tompkins Square
  
  You got a black .38 and a gravity knife
  you still have to ride the train
  There's the smelly essence of N.Y. down there
  but you ain't no Bernard Goetz, ah
  There's no Mafia lawyer to fight in your corner
  for that 15 minutes of fame
  The have and the have nots are bleeding in the tub
  that's New York's future not mine, oh
  
  You better hold on
  something's happening here
  You better hold on
  you better, something's happening here
  Hold on, ooohhh, babe