Story Behind The Song

I was reminiscing about my former hometown of San Francisco and how much it has changed.

Song Description

The first verse describes the closing of Petrini's Supermarket in San Francisco, California, and how it affects the people who worked and shopped there. The second verse tells of a vendor who had worked at Candlestick Park when the Giants played there, and how much he missed a certain special someone when the teams moved to a new stadium. The bridge muses on the passing of Herb Caen. The third verse discusses the change of the Bay Area's focus to the Silicon Valley, and how the dangerous neighborhoods in SF are now trendy.

Lyrics

Some Days (Baghdad-By-The-Bay c. 2000)
© 2015 Ggreg Snyder

VERSE
Petrini's laid the workers off when they closed the Sunset store
Making do with a whole lot less, they needed so much more
The butchers found jobs elsewhere, with lesser benefits
Others mostly just moved on, a few called it quits

CHORUS
Some days you're going to win
Bad days, when you lose
Now and then, you might come out ahead
some days, you pay your dues

VERSE
Casey worked at Candlestick, for every Giants game
The new park is much nicer, the feelings not the same
They're winning games for Dusty, Barry's on a hitting spree
What happened to the pretty one who sat in Section UR3?

CHORUS
Good days run very short
Bad days last too long
Better days can pass us by
If we fail to grab on

BRIDGE
Traditions live for decades, but get started on a whim
Though Herb is gone, we still wonder, who the hell is Strange de Jim?

VERSE
The city was the place to work, out of town was where they grew
Now there's families in the Castro, the job's in Mountain View
The bars that shanghai'd sailors, brew 20 kinds of beer
you can walk through SoMa, without a prophecy of fear

CHORUS
Some days you're gonna win
Everybody's got to lose
At least every day has got an end
Next morning's got the news