Letter in the Mail

If I could go down now

While the whole town is sleeping

See the sun creeping up

On the hill yeah

I know the river and the railroad

Would run through the valley still

I guess it never was much to look at

Just a one-horse town

The kind of place young people

Want to leave today

Store fronts pretty much boarded up

Main Street pretty much closed down

Oh the church bell still rings on Sunday

Old folks still go

The young ones listen on the radio

Saturday night

Nothing but a stray dog

Running wild like nobody's child

And little by little, light after light, that's how it died

They say you never go home again, that's no lie

Its like a letter in the mail to a brother in jail

It's a matter of time

Until you can do a little bit better time

Doesn't it good to believe sometimes?

It used to be part of the heartland

Awful proud and strong

But deep, deep down

Peaceful and serene

When people used to talk about the country

That's what they used to mean

I might go down come the weekend

Go on my own

Drop off Annie and the baby

Maybe drive alone

Pay my last respects to a time

That has all but gone

We said, Mama come look at the mountain

The fire in the sky

It's lit up like the Fourth of July

The mill burning down

The jobs leaving town

The trains rolling by

And little by little, light after light, that's how it died

They say you never go home again, now that's no lie

Its like a letter in the mail to a brother in jail

It's a matter of time

Until you can do a little bit better time no no no