Allentown

Lyrics

Well we're living here in Allentown  
And they're closing all the factories down  
Out in Bethlehem they're killing time  
Filling out forms  
Standing in line  
Well our fathers fought the Second World War  
Spent their weekends on the Jersey Shore  
Met our mothers in the USO  
Asked them to dance  
Danced with them slow  
And we're living here in Allentown  
But the restlessness was handed down  
And it's getting very hard to stay  
Well we're waiting here in Allentown  
For the Pennsylvania we never found  
For the promises our teachers gave  
If we worked hard  
If we behaved  
So the graduations hang on the wall  
But they never really helped us at all  
No they never taught us what was real  
Iron and coal  
Chromium steel  
And we're waiting here in Allentown  
But they've taken all the coal from the ground  
And the union people crawled away  
Every child has a pretty good shot  
To get at least as far as their old man got  
But something happened on the way to that place  
They threw an American flag in our face  
Well I'm living here in Allentown  
And it's hard to keep a good man down  
But I won't be getting up today  
And we're living here in Allentown