The Wallflowers - 6th Avenue Heartache

6th Avenue Heartache lyric :

Sirens ring, the shots ring out

A stranger cries, screams out loud

I had my world strapped against my back

I held my hands, never knew how to act

Chorus:

And the same black line that was drawn on you

Was drawn on me

And now it's drawn me in

6th Avenue heartache

Below me was a homeless man

I'm singin' songs I knew complete

On the steps alone, his guitar in hand

It's fifty years, stood where he stands

Now walkin' home on those streets

The river winds move my feet

Subway steam, like silhouettes in dreams

They stood by me, just like moonbeams

Look out the window, down upon that street

And gone like a midnight was that man

But I see his six strings laid against that wall

And all his things, they all look so small

I got my fingers crossed on a shooting star

Just like me, just moved on.

Wikipedia :

The first single from their 1996 album Bringing Down the Horse. The single was released in summer 1996, and became their first hit, peaking at #8 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and #10 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

Jakob Dylan, the band's lead singer, wrote the song when he was eighteen years old, and considered it the first real song he had written. It was meant to go on their self-titled first album, but the record company would not allow it. The lyrics are based on Dylan's own experiences while living in New York, in particular the story of a homeless man who would sit outside his window and play the same songs every day. One day the man was gone, but his things were still there, until gradually people started taking them.

Mike Campbell from Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers played the slide guitar on the song, though he recorded the track in his own studio, and never even met the band members. Adam Duritz from Counting Crows contributed backing vocals. The video, shot in New York, was directed by movie director David Fincher, known for such films as Se7en and Fight Club.