| Heading down the freeway, just outside L. A. | |
| I was coming back with a friend of mine | |
| We'd been cruising 'round all day, yeah yeah yeah | |
| We were just getting started to move when the lights came down from behind | |
| They never told us what we had done but we're lying on the ground | |
| 'What about our rights?' I said, he said 'Not here in this town' | |
| Chorus: | |
| Shake down - with the gods that show no mercy | |
| Shake down - somebody called the devil ... and he's got the gun | |
| People just kept on driving like it happens every day | |
| Sweat and blood running down my face | |
| But there was nothing I could say, no no no | |
| We couldn't move, we were scared to death but we were doing what we could | |
| Going down somebody said 'Another night in Hollywood' | |
| Chorus (2) | |
| I never knew crime was so exciting | |
| TV cops and movie stars | |
| Don't you think it's gone so far? | |
| Chorus | |
| Shake down (3) | |
| (Spoken): | |
| Shake you down |