The Devil You Know Todd Snider

[Verse 1]
Helicopters over the house again
We got the projects two or three blocks from here
They pull the kids over for Driving-While-African
And the ones that with the warrants always run in fear
So I sit here waiting for the coast to clear
Wishing once again I had a gun around here
Turn on the news, and what do I hear?
Some kid shot the bank up on Gallatin Road
Ran away from the cops while he was trying to reload
He beat them up to Eastland Street on feet
Now he's probably reloaded and running down my street
I better turn the alarm on and lock myself in
Helicopters over the house again

[Chorus]
Sometimes you rise above it
Sometimes you gonna sneak below
Somewhere in between believing in heaven
And facing the devil you know

[Verse 2]
Poor kid probably never had a chance to give a fuck
He wouldn't know good luck from a debutante
He's got to find a way to be Steve McNair or Young Buck
Or he's tough luck looking for a prison to haunt
And you can fuck getting any kind of job you want
Unless you really want to work in a fast food restaurant
And who wants to do that? Do you want to do that?
I wouldn't trade that for my crooked hat
Or my gang or my gun or my waist full of pagers
For a job deep-frying shit, for rich teenagers
If that's where it's at and no one's gonna help
How you gonna blame a man for helping himself?
There is a war going on that the poor can't win
Helicopters over the house again