The Royal Scam Song by Steely Dan And they wandered in From the city of St. John Without a dime Wearing coats that shined Both red and green Colors from their sunny island From their boats of iron They looked upon the promised land Where surely life was sweet On the rising tide To New York City Did they ride into the street See the glory Of the royal scam They are hounded down To the bottom of a bad town Amid the ruins Where they learn to fear An angry race of fallen kings Their dark companions While the memory of Their southern sky was clouded by A savage winter Every patron saint Hung on the wall, shared the room With twenty sinners See the glory Of the royal scam By the blackened wall He does it all He thinks he's died and gone to heaven Now the tale is told By the old man back home He reads the letter How they are paid in gold Just to babble in the back room All night and waste their time And they wandered in From the city of St. John without a dime See the glory Of the royal scam This is a song about people from Puerto Rico who immigrated to New York in the '50s and '60s hoping to secure the American Dream only to find discrimination and hate from the native population.
