MY HOMETOWN

I was eight years old and running with a dime in my hand
Into the bus stop to pick up a paper for my old man
I'd sit on his lap in that big old Buick and steer as we drove through town
He'd tousle my hair and say son take a good look around this is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown

In '65 tension was running high at my high school
There was a lot of fights between the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a Saturday night, in the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed in a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come, to my hometown
My hometown
My hometown
My hometown

Now Main Street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back to your hometown
Your hometown
Your hometown
Your hometown

Last night me and Kate we laid in bed
talking about getting out
Packing up our bags maybe heading south
I'm thirty-five, we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said son take a good look around, this is your hometown

Published on Born In The USA. Also included on Greatest Hits and Live 1975-85. The song has some similarities with CHEVROLET DELUXE.

Played during the Born In The USA, Human Rights Now!, Human Touch, The Ghost Of Tom Joad, Reunion, The Rising, Vote For Change, and Devils & Dust tours. Also played in 1987, and during the Christic Institute benefit shows in Nov 1990 and the Double Take Magazine benefit shows in Feb 2003.

The above lyrics refer to the album's version. Check also take 1 and take 2.

Included on singles in 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1988 with DANCING IN THE DARK, SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN (12 Dec 1975), WAR (30 Sep 1985), and MERRY CHRISTMAS BABY (28 Dec 1980).

Liner notes by Bruce Springsteen in the Greatest Hits booklet:

The harshness of Reganism, post-industrial America, memories of my childhood + my Town.