This was a town took care of it's own   That's what me and my children have known   I worked the mill the way my parents did   I remember this town when I was a kid   Sitting through the movies twice   Open windows late at night   Slipping out in the summer heat   To meet John Miller in the middle of the street      They laid a highway a few years back   Next town over by the railroad track   Some nights, I'm glad it passed us by   Some nights, I sit and watch my hometown die      I'm fifty-five and when the mill burned down   I wasn't much past a pretty young gal   Boss lit a match in the oily night   Cops never had enough to set it right   So while the company traded with our lives   We were busy watching that slow moon rise   Dancing on the dry grass bridge   Making love down by the Cedar County Bridge      They laid a highway a few years back   Next town over by the railroad track   Some nights, I'm glad it passed us by   Some nights, I sit and watch my hometown die      They never came to tear that old place down   They roped it off, but you can walk around   See the rust on the painted doors   Watch the rain fall through the burned out floors   This was a town took care of it's own   This was a town doing fine all alone   The mill got out a quarter to five   You could eat supper with any family you liked      They laid a highway a few years back   Next town over by the railroad track   Some nights, I'm glad it passed us by   Some nights, I sit and watch my hometown die