Queen of the Avenue

My daddy worked the Paw Paw tunnel, never was quite the same
Between the black soot dust and the voodoo, plenty scrambling his brain
He moved everybody up to Baltimore city, trying to work in the factory
Until they all shut down and he started running from Pigtown to West 33

I was born on the doorstep of the watch house round Powers Street
With a line a few deep on the sidewalk, hanging round my mama's feet
Everybody knew me as Junior, but the secret rumor nicknames I knew
But when I became the boss I said, how's about you call me the queen of the avenue

Well we're never going back to the cold, cold holler
Ain't no way to make a dollar, no no
Daddy's working days are through, and I'm the queen of the avenue

I was standing by the farm store when the law come up in an unmarked ride
Said hey there miss what's your business"", started to frisk me, and I laughed inside
Well daddy had his faults but he surely taught me all the ways to earn my stripes
That's why I hid the real batch in the knapsack in the stroller tucked inside the baby wipes

Never going back to the cold, cold holler
Ain't no way to make a dollar, no no
But I'll be working til the whole day's through
Cuz I'm the queen of the avenue

Penny make a nickel, nickel make a dime, dime make somebody lose his mind
Everybody trying to make it through, come see the queen of the avenue"