Born In The U.s.a.

We busted out of class had to get away from those fools
We learned more from a three-minute record than we ever learned in school
Tonight i heart the neighborhood drummer sound
I can feel my heart begin to pound
You say you're tired and you just want to close your eyes and follow your dreams down

We made a promise we swore we'd always remember
No retreat, believe me, no surrender
Like soldiers in the winter's night with a vow to defend
No retreat, believe me, no surrender

Now young faces grow sad and old and hearts of fire grow cold
We swore blood brothers against the wind
I'm ready to grow young again
And hear your sister's voice calling us home across the open yards
Believin' we could cut someplace of our own
With these drums and these guitars

We made a promise we swore we'd always remember
No retreat, believe me, no surrender
Blood brothers in the stormy night with a vow to defend
No retreat, believe me, no surrender

Now on the street tonight the lights grow dim
The walls of my room are closing in
But it's good to see your smiling face and to hear your voice again
We could sleep in the twilight by the river side
With a wide open country in our hearts
And these romanics dreams in our heads

We made a promise...

I had a friend was a big baseball player back in high school
He could throw that speedball by ya, make you look like a fool
Saw him the other night at this roadside bar i was walking in he was walking out
We went back inside, sat down, had a few drinks, but all we kept talking about

Glory days, yeah they'll pass you by
Glory days, in the wink of a young girl's eye
Glory days, glory days

There's this girl that lives up the block, back in school she could turn all the boys heads
Sometimes on friday i'll stop by and have a few drinks after she put her kids to bed
Her and her husband bobby, well they split up, i guess it's two years gone by
We just sit around talking about the old times, she says when she feels like crying she starts laughing thinking about

Glory days...

Think i'm going down to the well tonight and i'm gonna drink till i get my fill
I hope when i get older i don't sit around thinking about it, but i probably will
Yeah just sitting back trying to recapture a little of the glory of
Well the time slips away and leaves you with nothing, mister, but boring stories of

Glory days...

All right boys keep it rocking now
We gonna go home now
Let's go!

Hey little girl is your daddy home
Did he go away and leave you all alone
I got a bad desire
I'm on fire

Tell me now baby is he good to you
Can he do to you the things that i do
I can take you higher
I'm on fire

Sometimes it's like someone took a knife baby
Edgy and dull and cut a six-inch valley
Through the middle of my soul

At night i wake up with the sheets soaking wet
And a freight train running through the
Middle of my head
Only you can cool my desire
I'm on fire

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 say son take a good look around
This is your hometown, this is your hometown
This is your hometown, this is your hometown

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 in a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come to my hometown
My hometown, my hometown, my hometown

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 hometown, your hometown, your hometown

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

I had a job, i had a girl
I had something going mister in this world
I got laid off down at the lumber yard
Our love went bad, times got hard
Now i work down at the carwash
Where all it ever does is rain
Don't you feel like you're a rider on a downbound train

She just said "joe i gotta go
We had it once we ain't got it any more"
She packed her bags left me behind
She bought a ticket on the central line
Nights as i sleep, i hear that whistle whining
I feel her kiss in the misty rain
And i feel like i'm a rider on a downbound train

Last night i heard your voice
You were crying, crying, you were so alone
You said your love had never died
You were waiting for me at home
Put on my jacket, i ran through the woods
I ran till i thought my chest would explode
There in the clearing, beyond the highway
In the moonlight, our wedding house shone
I rushed through the yard, i burst through the front door
My head pounding hard, up the stairs i climbed
The room was dark, our bed was empty
Then i heard that long whistle whine
And i dropped to my knees, hung my head and cried

Now i swing a sledge hammer on a railroad gang
Knocking down them cross ties, working in the rain
Now don't it feel like you're a rider on a downbound train

Friday night's pay night guys fresh out of work
Talking about the weekend scrubbing off the dirt
Some heading home to their families some looking to get hurt
Some going down to stovell wearing trouble on their shirts

I work for the county out on 95
All day i hold a red flag and watch the traffic pass me by
In my head i keep a picture of a pretty little miss
Someday mister i'm gonna lead a better life than this

Working on the highway laying down the blacktop
Working on the highway all day long i don't stop
Working on the highway blasting through the bedrock
Working on the highway, working on the highway

I met her at a dance down at the union hall
She was standing with her brothers back up against the wall
Sometimes we'd go walking down the union tracks
One day i looked straight at her and she looked straight back

Working on the highway...

I saved up my money and i put it all away
I went to see her daddy but we didn't have much to say
"son can't you see that she's just a little girl
She don't know nothing about this cruel cruel world"

We lit out down to florida we got along all right
One day her brothers came and got her and they took me in a black and white
The prosecutor kept the promise that he made on that day
And the judge got mad and he put me straight away
I wake up every morning to the work bell clang
Me and the warden go swinging on the charlotte county road gang

Working on the highway...