Lyrics In The Heat Of The Summer - Judy Collins

In the heat of the summer
When the pavements were burning
The soul of a city was ravaged in the night
After the city sun was setting
Now, no one knows how it started
Why the windows were shattered
But deep in the dark, someone set the spark
And then it no longer mattered
Down the street they were rumblin'
Bricks were heavily flying
Oh, where, oh, where are the white silver tongues
Who forgot to listen to the warnings?
Drunk with the memory of the ghetto
Drunk with the lure of the looting
With the memory of the uniforms shoving with their sticks
Asking, "Are you looking for trouble?"
"No, no, no", moaned the mayor
"That's not the way of the order
Stay in your homes, please, leave us alone
We'll be glad to talk in the morning"
"For shame, for shame", wrote the papers
"Why the hurry to your hunger?
Now the rubble is resting on your broken streets
And you see what your rage has unraveled"
And when the fury was over
Shame was replacing the anger
So wrong, so wrong, but we've been down so long
And we had to make somebody listen
In the heat of the summer