| The road stirs in the distance
|
| I stop and strain to view (I stop to take a look)
|
| across the bridge around the bend
|
| another passing through (he's goin' faster than he should)
|
| he trails the road behind him
|
| never waves or slows
|
| A headlong flight to somewhere else
|
| he hurries down the road
|
| Who is this passing stranger
|
| Who travels all alone
|
| Along some road to nowhere
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| So far away from home
|
| I watch him at the crossing
|
| I watch him fade to dust
|
| he travels when he wants to
|
| I travel when I must
|
| This road was young when my granddad
|
| first plowed this tired land
|
| this road saw neighbors come and go
|
| and come and go again
|
| across the river, through the gap
|
| back and forth they flowed
|
| out of mem’ry, out of sight
|
| and out of this old road
|
| I remember all the young men
|
| Their call came loud and clear:
|
| Get a job, get a car
|
| Get the hell away from here
|
| And, one by one, they all were blown
|
| Like dust upon the wind
|
| Till what was left were those who found
|
| the road back home again
|
| This road was young when my granddad
|
| first plowed this tired land |
| this road saw neighbors come and go
|
| and come and go again
|
| across the river, through the gap
|
| back and forth they flowed
|
| out of mem’ry, out of sight
|
| and out of this old road
|
| I guess the day will finally come
|
| when this road’s just like the rest
|
| No wild thread, but straight and wide
|
| where cars pass two abreast
|
| there’ll be no place for folks like me
|
| no place for sweet and slow
|
| down the highway fast and fierce
|
| a long time down this road
|
| This road was young when my granddad
|
| first plowed this tired land
|
| this road saw neighbors come and go
|
| and come and go again
|
| across the river, through the gap
|
| back and forth they flowed
|
| out of mem’ry, out of sight
|
| and out of this old road
|
| for the sweetest days are the days I’ve known
|
| standing here by the side of the road
|
| watching others come and go
|
| at home on this old road |