Right down in the summer
What the winter has taken away
Make a note of what's
been left for dead
Right now, to be honest
I don't care what the people say
Or if the summer sun don't
go on and beat my head
The power's out downtown tonight
But it don't matter to me
I'm still gonna walk around tonight
And see what I can't see
And write it down
This uneven sidewalk
Made of stone so blue
Sometimes even trips me in the day
But right now I can hear it talking
Underneath my shoe
I can hear the long gone people say
One thing brighter than a barn dance
Is the whole barn burning down
And then one night we
had the chance
Burned whole damn town,
they burned it down
Nineteenth century Irishman
Dug that big canal and then
The railroad come and
blew it all away
Big old German breweries
Cigar -shirt -rigged factories
Only whispered voices
now remain
Paddy went uptown to vote
On election day
They hit his head like a billy goat
Set him to his early grave,
his unmarred blade
Distant waters, great depression
Sometimes leave a big impression
But sometimes people bring
it on themselves
T -Car garage, great invention
Chuckin' middle class ambition
Leave your road downtown
and hollow shell
Your shiny strip
mall landscape
Seems so clownish now
Built to serve one company
And the company moves out
They're moving south
now in the summer
This desolation haze
Might be a bit more pre
cious than it seems
Cause the city folk
s just found us
They want to make our old downtown
look like them pictures in their
magazine
Power's coming back all night,
you better walk real fast
Enjoy your night out
with the ghosts,
cause it ain't gonna last
Oh, there's something insidious
been creeping around this town
Now it's own facsimile is
comin' to knock it down
So write it down,
write it down
Paint a picture and write it down
I'll take it in my stride