WHAT IT’S LIKE (EVERLAST)

Tentative answers

Ad 1) A classical pop song: three stanzas, chorus and break. The three stanzas tell us something about three different people. The poet repeats and varies the last part of each stanza: "God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes, cause then you really might know what it’s like to sing the blues" in the first stanza, in the second stanza "...what it’s like to have to choose", in the third stanza "...you ever had to wake up to hear the news, cause then you really might know what it’s like to have to lose".
Ad 2) a) It is hard to be a beggar: they are dirty, are ashamed of begging for money and people insult them.
b) It is hell to have to choose between having an abortion and rearing a child without a father.
c) It is terrible to lose a husband, who gets killed.
Ad 3) It is a vicious circle: You will not get a job, if you are addicted to alcohol, without a home and dirty. Because you don’t have a job, you drink and cannot wash yourself.
Ad 4) The title is meaningless if you don’t complete the sentence. The second part varies (confer answer 1)
Ad 5) They all deal with the bad sides of life, with people who are out of luck.
Ad 6) a) Opposites are juxtaposed.
b) Everything is possible, every situation can change, good can turn to bad and vice versa.
Ad 7) Have pity on other people who are on a losing streak. Think about how it would feel to be in their shoes: horrible.
Ad 8) Ralph McTell’s "Streets of London"