From the recording Playin' Hooky with My Baby
Lyrics
Do you mind if I tell you ’bout where I was born
In a quaint little house with an oak in the lawn?
My father worked days at a hardware store
Married my mother the year he got back from the war
My hometown, summers gone by
Where World War One veterans still march on the Fourth of July
We had an account at O’Shaunessy’s store
You’d smell hickory smoke when you walked in the door
We’d watch the old men as they sat by the fire
Spinning their tales in their shabby outmoded attire
My hometown has aged hardly a year
You can walk in the shadows at midnight with nothing to fear
And the kites that we flew and the fish that we caught in the stream
And the rolling green hills where we shared our adventures and dreams
My hometown, so near yet so far
The mayor is out with his wife In their shiny new car
Maybe you’re angry and empty inside
Maybe you’re searching for someplace to hide
Maybe you woke up one day middle aged
A broken old bird who could never escape from his cage
But I know some day a forsaken old road
Will lead me back home to the place where my life overflowed
My hometown, summers gone by
Where World War One veterans still march on the Fourth of July