From the recording This Town
"This Town"... This song grew from observations on Salem Oregon and ended up taking on "Anytown" U.S.A. Sometimes I feel like with every modernization and technological advance we loose a chunk of our souls.
Lyrics
This Town
This town is filled with tattoo and pizza parlors
Fancy boutique hair salons where there use to be a barber
They got drive through divorce but convenience ain't cheap
People climb the ladder of success to stand on this big junk heap
What rises to the top is not always the cream
Sometimes it's just the guy who don't mind steppin' on a dream
There's a weight loss clinic located right next door to Chuck E Cheese
You know the average age has lowered on the obesity disease
There's country clubs and brew pubs, speed dating singles bars
And Goth kids on skateboards who look like they're from Mars
The schools are overcrowded outmanned and understaffed
Every man for himself, we're goin' down, man the life rafts
We got waitresses in the ally suckin' on cigarettes, shootin the breeze
Every Sunday the horn rimmed, born again are down upon their knees
On the outskirts new subdivisions are always on the rise
Reflected in the shrinking, fading, aging farmers eyes
The economy is teetering and Daddy's in distress
Get out the credit card, life is hard princess needs a prom dress
We got fast food joints and coffee shops, karaoke Tuesday night
Topless bars and muscle cars waiting for the light
The bookstore and record shop are empty as my wallet
They fall for the strip mall, progress is what they call it
We bulldoze memories for the impermanent and new
Change ain't lookin' for a friend, it's the tune we dance to
The housing association wants you to clearly understand
There's nothing quite as beautiful as beige and tan and bland
In the land where you can grow up to be anything you want to be
For six figures you must hide our ugly individuality
So when your pride's itchin' like a bad mosquito bite
Keep your nose clean and your mouth shut, kid you'll be alright