Street Music

STREET MUSIC Manhattan, in nineteen thirty six And a growing Italian population Poor immigrants, no job no food And so impossible not to intrude Yet there was strong motivation Out on the street, turning tricks A barrel organ, four dollars rent One could include a monkey too Or even buy them, a block away Earn a few cents profit every day Maybe a wife improved the view To make a buck was the intent Street life could have been kinder And intervention was never tardier Yet a Mayoral ban, it would seem Begging, not the American dream So it was outlawed, by La Guardia And New York’s last organ grinder