Have you seen them in every station
Begging in their separate ways
Some of them are no more than children
Some of them are runaways
I don't care for your opinion
I've seen you turn your face the other way
And you said to me "Son, what's your problem?
Can't we talk about this over lunch some day?"

And I bet you've never
Been south of the river
Down the Old Kent Road or down
Southwark way
I bet you've never never seen them
Lying in the litter
In the cardboard boxes
Where you make them stay

In the docklands of East London
Where those great tall ships once sailed
Of a price of couple of hundred thousands
I have seen your condominiums for sale
In the north by the archway tavern
You can see them lying there every day
And they're drunk to hell, they'll scream their minds to the heaven
"My God why did it have to be this way?"

And I bet you've never
Been south of the river
Down the Old Kent Road or down
Southwark way
I bet you've never never seen them
Lying in the litter
In the cardboard boxes
Where you make them stay

I worked my time and I paid my taxes
I've lined your pockets with my pay
You said you'd take my money
You said you'd help them
But in your pockets it just seems to stay
And I've seen your fancy house in Richmond
And where you moor your boat on Kingston Quay
Every week you take your wife and children sailing
Try taking them down to south London some day

And I bet you've never
Been south of the river
Down the Old Kent Road or down
Southwark way
I bet you've never never seen them
Lying in the litter
In the cardboard boxes
Where you make them stay
In the cardboard boxes
where they have to stay