[Verse 1]
Sometimes in the evening
I start to get that feeling
Like I'm empty inside
I know I'm doing good now
But tonight I'm headed downtown
Down by the riverside
I sit underneath the freeway
With an old friend from the old days
And a bottle of wine
He used to call me "Big Time"
Said he knew someday that I'd shine
Said he'd seen all the signs

[Chorus]
Said, "Keep yourself to yourself
Keep your bedroll dry
And boy, you never can tell
What the shadows hide
Keep one eye on the ground
Pick up whatever you find
'Cause you've got no place to fall
When your back's to the wall"

[Verse 2]
He's getting old and it's showing
So I asked him how it's going
He said "I've seen better, I guess
I've been rained on, I've been frozen
But this here's the life I've chosen
If it just wasn't for the loneliness
Now this river suits me to a T
But if you're trying to raise a family
This ain't no place to be
There's a kid down by the dump there
Ought to be in grade school somewhere
Now he hangs out with me and I told him
[Chorus]
"Keep yourself to yourself
Keep your bedroll dry
And boy, you never can tell
What the shadows hide
Keep one eye on the ground
Pick up whatever you find
'Cause you've got no place to fall
When your back's to the wall"

[Verse 3]
Well we finished off the bottle
I told him, "Joe, I think I ought to be headed uptown"
Well it was late and I'd been drinking
Driving home, I got to thinking
About what's been going down
'Cause they're nervous down on Wall Street
They're trying to keep it upbeat
Or maybe they just don't care
Down at the river, eyes are burning
They feel the tables turning
So if you wind up down there

[Chorus]
Just keep yourself to yourself
Keep your bedroll dry
And boy, you never can tell
What the shadows hide
Keep one eye on the ground
Pick up whatever you find
'Cause you've got no place to fall
When your back's to the wall