I Saw My Baby on the Street Today

You see a lot of homeless people near the ocean, at least around here.

If you ask them, often as not they'll tell you, if you have to be homeless somewhere, you might as well be homeless by the beach. And there are often pick-up jobs and day labor opportunities near the waterfront, and sometimes hideaways in coastal estuaries.

But sometimes I can't help wondering -- as I'm sure others have wondered -- whether they end up along the water because other people keep pushing them away and, eventually, there's just nowhere else to go.


The protagonist of this song finds himself torn between pity and forgotten love as he struggles with the natural inclination to turn away when he sees his estranged wife homeless on the street and she doesn't recognize him.

I've seen the mutation and destruction of personality that can result from some sickness and injury and I don't know that I would have the kind of selflessness it takes to make the sacrifice he makes by eventually taking her back in. (Eventually, meaning by the second short verse in a two verse song.)


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I saw my baby on the street today


I saw my baby on the street today
she didn't recognize me I turned away
I shoulda said
come back baby
come back home
how could I leave ya out here all alone(in the cold

I know youre crazy
and it's tearing me apart
but I vowed to love you
til' death do us part

come back baby come back home
i jusc can lveave you out there in the cold
unpack your shopping crat
take a nice long bath
it ain't like the old days
but the worst is past

I know youre crazy
and it's tearing me apart
but I vowed to love you
til' death do us part


(C)1990, TK Major