You cast your line on Beacon Hill brick
Cod and striper swimming slick
Tourists stare with coffee cups
You don't care you're winding up
Charles River wind cuts through your coat
Three decades keeping this same boat
No harbor dock no motor hum
Just sidewalk concrete beating drum
Sidewalk fisher king of asphalt tide
Reeling dreams where streets collide
Boston autumn gold and gray
You cast and wait another day
I've driven cab these forty years
Seen your silhouette through rain and tears
Meter running passengers complain
You're the only constant that remains
Sidewalk fisher king of asphalt tide
Reeling dreams where streets collide
Boston autumn gold and gray
You cast and wait another day
Red Sox pennant flaps above the bridge
Your patience measured ridge by ridge
No net no boat no harbor fee
Just you the brick the living sea
October leaves clog storm drain grates
You tally up your morning takes
Two bluefish one striped bass
Enough for supper earn your grace
Headlights sweep the cobblestone
You pack your gear and head on home
Tomorrow dawn you'll claim your spot
Where pavement meets the fishing lot
Sidewalk fisher king of asphalt tide
Reeling dreams where streets collide
Boston autumn gold and gray
You cast and wait another day
Line goes slack the city wakes
Another haul another day's stakes
