Somebody Bought My Old Hometown

(album: A Bird Named Yesterday - 1967)

I used to like to listen to the tales of the old men
Who sat around the old park square
But the piddlers and the whittlers and the checker boards're gone
There's a brand new office building there.

And the street known as Maple is much wider now
And there are no maples to be found
Since Consolidated Whozit Subdivision of Universal
What-You-Call-It bought my old hometown.

There used to be good fishing down along the shady mill stream
You'd see 'em as they jumped and played
But the blue gill and the croppie and the old mill made way
For Chemical Division Section A.

They pulled up the flowers planted by the Ladies' Club
And took the city founder statue down
Since Consolidated Whozit Subdivision of Universal
What-You-Call-It bought my old hometown.

Yeah, the picture show has had it where I used to spend my Saturdays
With Jean and Roy and Hop Along
Now the Brotherhood of Gismo Fixers Local 102
Is making it their temporary home.

They cut down the maples along Maple Street
And of course the pool hall came down
Since Consolidated Whozit Subdivision of Universal
What-You-Call-It bought my old hometown...

[Narrative by Bobby spoken after song:]
(Now he's circling a spot that I know.)
Oh, I miss the old movie house and the fishing and all that
But what really got me was when they came up with the city beautiful
campaign and that urban renewal boy.