In 1989 a wealthy, pop icon went into the studio and recorded a song about being homeless. It raced to #1 on the Billboard Pop Charts. That same year, a group of musicians, some of whom had been and others who actually were homeless at the time, stumbled upon a poem on a wall near a homeless shelter. They were so inspired by the poem, they contacted the author and asked if they could put music to it. They went to a friend’s garage and jammed out a gutsy bluesy rock chord progression and the author of the poem crafted a melody right on the spot. The group of musicians had a singer and he sung it.
A friend of theirs shopped it around to major labels and received a bunch of rejections but a tiny label agreed to release it, paying the musicians and singer for their work on the project. The label had enough money to release about 200 promotional copies and sent them to radio stations. It got some airplay but the label ran out of money and couldn’t afford to press any copies for sale to the public.
Few of the original copies of the 4 song 7” EP released by the label who called the group of musicians Bandit, exist today. We have only heard of one copy of the song on youtube. The song tells its gritty, straightforward story from the point of view of a homeless person. The lyrics appear below:
Skids
A Song by Prophet of Life
VERSE 1
I used to work construction
Built skyscrapers of concrete and steel
I used to be a truck driver
Thousands of miles passed beneath my wheels
I used to be a soldier
Fought to keep this nation free
I used to be a father
And I raised a family
I used to be a surgeon
Healed people with my hands
I used to be all kinds of useful things
before my luck went bad
CHORUS
I’m on the skids
Out on the skids
Somehow my life slipped backwards
And I’m on the skids
VERSE 2
I’m living in an alley
I’m sleeping in a box
I get my meals from trash cans
I guard my cart like it was Fort Knox
Can’t visualize my future
I’m haunted by my past
I wake up every morning
Wondering if it’s my last
I dream of turning my life around
I pray it’s not too late
I just turned 44
But I feel like I’m 88
(Repeat Chorus)
BRIDGE
On the skids, skids, skids
I’m on the skids, skids, skids
BRIDGE
I wanted to catch the gravy train
But it just passed me by
Now this bottle of Night Train’s
The only train I can afford to ride
I’m on the skids
Somebody help me out
Lost on the skids
Somebody help me now
Prisoner of the skids
Out on the skids
Lost on the skids
Copyright 1989, 1990, 1991, 2010 Love Force International Publishing Company. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.