You've got a cardboard house.
live there all the time.
keep your memories tied with string
the face that many once-adored,
twenty years gone maybe more.
somewhere you lost your dream.
mama watched your every move,
but now you're all alone.
she's been gone for awhile.
daddy left some time ago,
fading years pass too slow.
he's the only one, could make you smile.
--oh, you're still crying--
Big city bound.
gonna make your mark.
read your name in the lights.
all the ads and people say,
beauty lets you get your way.
tried your best to prove them right.
but living on the streets ain't bad,
sad people make you glad.
pardon me, could you spare some change?
--oh, you're still crying--
Street corner girl.
watch the crowd go by,
fill your tin can with life.
summer days tend to slip away
like your men you couldn't make them stay.
hard to choose, whiskey or a wife.
sometimes you wonder where's the end.
where you goin' where you been?
happiness seems so hard to win.
most never care to find,
della brown sees it all the time.
looking for that man
to make her smile again.