Very often he was there himself,
and I, of course, had a special small ball as a little girl,
and didn't I grow up, didn't I grow up to be captain of the Morton girls bowling team? I did!
Though I don't attach much importance to that now, or then,
then riding the old Garfield El downtown,
and on up to State Street,
and back to guns under the counter,
guns under the counter every time.
guns under the counter,
and bowling on the second floor.

I never liked Douglas park,
and no one likes it now,
but that's neither here nor there.
(There, or here.)
West of Crawford, where it is I stayed,
Chicago straights alliterates.
(North, and south.)
I lived in the Ms.
But it was down on the south side,
Dr. Peter Pane and his brother had their doughnut factory.
And I mention it now because...

That one day
(Now I wasn't there,
We were in Davenport at that time),
some north side Irish bullets came zipping through that window.
In Cicero,
never stand at a window!
And past the counter,
looking for those men,
who had their guns behind the counter,
and you could smell the boiled cabbage on those bullets!
One of them managed to hit a young pinsetter in the leg;
wouldn't you know it.
But luckily Panagoulis -
Dr. Peter Pane -
was there to see to it.
He took some special blackberry filling right out of his lunch bag
and applied it to the young man's wound.
You see, Dr. Peter Pane was an interesting man,
and an even more interesting doctor,
as he would use no material or remedy that wasn't used in the manufacture of his doughnuts,
down on 82nd and Kedzie with his brother.
But he tempered this by the fact that he would rarely use ingredients that didn't have some medicinal purpose.
Or so he thought.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

I work on Belmont, but I live in Wicker Park
All my friends are bartenders in all the coolest bars
My girlfriend's in the coolest band that you've ever seen
They play the Empty Bottle every week.

I've got everything I need.
My loft, my motorcycle, my hip restaurant down the street
And my neighbors are all artists or hot girls over 18
Who needs community when you live right in your scene?
From Jinx to Betty's Blue Star, everybody knows my name
From North Ave down to Augusta everybody's all the same

It's a playground fueled by beer, no Chicagoans live here.

It's geography
Bound tightly
By big city dreams

And when the property value's raised
You'll be on your merry ways
Like the poor outclassed families before you you've already paved
From Ashland to Western
Chicago to North Ave

Congratulations kids, your shallow model city is sinking.
You've become what you swore that you'd never be.

And IMHO the greatest song of all time about Chicago

Magnolis Electric Co.-Leave the City, which can be found here and legal....

The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.

And it’s Friday night and you’re looking clean
To early to start the rounds
A ten minute ride from the Gold Coast back make sure you’re pleasure bound
And it’s four o’clock in the morning and all of the people have gone away
Just you and your mind and Lake Shore Drive, tomorrow is another day
And the sunshine’s fine in the morning time, tomorrow is another day
And there ain’t no road just like it
Anywhere I found
Running south on Lake Shore drive heading into town
Just snaking on by on LSD, Friday night trouble bound

By the shore's of old Lake Michigan
Where the "hawk wind" blows so cold
An old Cub fan lay dying
In his midnight hour that tolled
Round his bed, his friends had all gathered
They knew his time was short
And on his head they put this bright blue cap
From his all-time favorite sport
He told them, "Its late and its getting dark in here"
And I know its time to go
But before I leave the line-up
Boys, there's just one thing I'd like to know

Do they still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around
When the snow melts away,
Do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy-covered burial ground
When I was a boy they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave
The land of the free
And the doormat of the National League

This is a great topic: What are the great songs about Chicago?

nonetheless, by (allegedly) Robert Johnson, a guy who has never even been to Chicago.

they're listed in wikipedia as "famous greeks" but i was under the impression (due to their names, and the fact that they're successful youngsters from oak park) that they're jewish. i realize "jewish" isn't a nationality, but i can't say i know many greeks who practice judaism or have names any less greek than mine or "kass."

edit: the lyrics for that last one are brutal.

On Christmas day, in the afternoon
I got a call at home--
the bishop was on the phone
wanting the choir to go sing on some Channel 44 thing.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.