I was eight years old and running with a dime in my hand
Into the bus stop to pick up a paper for my old man
I'd sit on his lap in that big old Buick and steer as we drove through town
He'd tousle my hair and he'd say son take a good look around
This is your hometown, this is your home town
This is your hometown, this is your home town
In '65 tension was running high at my high school
There was a lot of fights between the black and white / there was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a Saturday night, in the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed, a shotgun blast / troubled times had come
To my hometown, to my home town,
To my hometown, to my home town
Now Main Street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back
To your hometown, your home town,
To your hometown, to your home town
Last night me and Kate, we laid in bed talking about getting out
Packing up our bags, maybe heading south
I'm thirty-five, we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said son take a good look around
This is your hometown