In this dirty old part of the city
Where the sun refused to shine
People tell me there ain't no use in tryin'
Now my girl, you're so young and pretty
And one thing I know is true
You'll be dead before your time is due, I know

Watch my daddy in bed a-dyin'
Watched his hair been turnin' grey
He's been workin' and slavin' his life away, oh yes I know it
And I've been workin' too, baby (yeah!)
Every night and day (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!)

We gotta get out of this place
If it's the last thing we ever do
We gotta get out of this place
'Cause girl, there's a better life for me and you

Snoriga armar och en randig kind
Glömmer aldrig bort min tonårssynd
Hemmafester och en stulen bil
Jag satt vid Fyrisån och döda tid
---
Det var 17 år
17 år i staden där jag växte upp och så
Märker du hur fort det går?
Och jag var 17 år ville inte va den som blev kvar

Jag minns det än idag
En vattenfestival
Minns att ingen ville åka hem
Jag skulle utomlands
Jag bytte efternamn
Och jag blev en av dem som aldrig kommit hem

Wednesday morning at five o'clock
As the day begins
Silently closing her bedroom door
Leaving the note that she hoped would say more
She goes down the stairs to the kitchen
Clutching her handkerchief
Quietly turning the backdoor key
Stepping outside, she is free

She, ... (we gave her most of our lives)
Is leaving (sacrified most of our lives)
Home (we gave her everything money could buy)

Father snores as his wife gets into her dressing gown
Picks up the letter that's lying there
Standing alone at the top of the stairs
She breaks down and cries to her husband
Daddy, our baby's gone.
Why would she treat us so thoughtlessly?
How could she do this to me?
---
She (what did we do that was wrong)
Is Having (we didn't know it was wrong)
Fun (fun is the one thing that money can't buy)
Something inside, that was always denied,
For so many years, .
She's leaving home

Ever since I was eight or nine.
I've been standing on the shoreline

All my life I've been waiting for something lasting
Oh this town kills you when you are young
Oh this town it kills you when you are young.

I'm not the boy that I used to be
This town has got the youth of me
All the eyes turn hollow
From the work of sorrow

The rain is falling lightly on the buildings and the cars
I've said goodbye to city friends, department stores and bars
The lights of town are at my back, my heart is full of stars
And I'm gonna be a country girl again

Oh yes, I'm gonna be a country girl again
With an old brown dog and a big front porch and rabbits in the pen
I tell you, all the lights on Broadway don't amount to an acre green
And I'm gonna be a country girl again

I spent some time in study, oh, I've taken my degrees
And memorized my formula, my A's and B's and C's
But what I know came long ago and not from such as these
And I'm gonna be a country girl again
---

I staden där studerar man. Där har man sin fabrik.
Där har man sitt kontorslandskap, sin marknad, sin butik.
Man talar om sin marknadsdel, sitt jobb och sin säsong.
Är det konstigt att man längtar bort nån gång?

Säg är det konstigt att man längtar bort nå'n gång?
Om man gärna vill lyssna till lärkans drill eller trastens glada sång,
Och om man älskar hav och vindar och är trött på neon och betong,
är det konstigt att man längtar bort nån gång?

Do you know the way to San Jose?
I've been away so long
I may go wrong and lose my way

LA is a great big freeway
Put a hundred down and buy a car
In a week, maybe two, they'll make you a star
Weeks turn into years, how quick they pass
And all the stars that never were
Are parking cars and pumping gas

You can really breathe in San Jose
They've got a lot of space
There'll be a place where I can stay
I was born and raised in San Jose
I'm going back to find some peace of mind in San Jose

Där som sädesfälten böja sig för vinden
Och där mörkgrön granskog lyser bakom den
Står den röda lilla stugan invid grinden
Som i forna dagar var mitt barndomshem

Det var sol och sommar över gröna hagar
När som artonåring jag därhemma var
Och de minnen som står kvar från dessa dagar
är de vackraste som jag i livet har

Ifrån landet uti väster tanken glider
Hem till kära gamla Sverige då och då
Fast det nu har svunnit många långa tider
Barndomshemmet har jag aldrig glömt ändå
---

Round my Indiana homestead wave the cornfields,
In the distance loom the woodlands clear and cool.
Oftentimes my thoughts revert to scenes of childhood,
Where I first received my lessons, nature's school.
But one thing there is missing from the picture,
Without her face it seems so incomplete.
I long to see my mother in the doorway,
As she stood there years ago, her boy to greet.

Oh, the moonlight's fair tonight along the Wabash
From the fields there comes the breath of new mown hay
Through the sycamore the candle lights are gleaming
On the banks of the Wabash, far away

Last night I went to sleep in Detroit City
I dreamed about them cotton fields of home
I dreamed about my mother, dear old pappy, sister and brother
And I dreamed about the girl who's been waitin' for so long

I want to go home
I want to go home
Oh, how I want to go home

Home folks think I'm big in Detroit City
From the letters that I write they think I'm just fine, yes they do
But by day I make the cars and by night I make the bars
If only they could read between the lines

Got on board a westbound 747
Didn't think before deciding what to do
Oh, that talk of opportunities, TV breaks and movies
Rang true, sure rang true

Seems it never rains in southern California
Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before
It never rains in California
But girl, don't they warn ya?
It pours, man, it pours

Out of work, I'm out of my head
Out of self respect, I'm out of bread
I'm underloved, I'm underfed
I wanna go home
---

I am just a poor boy
Though my story's seldom told
I have squandered my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles
Such are promises
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest

When I left my home and my family
I was no more than a boy
In the company of strangers
In the quiet of the railway station
Running scared
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters
Where the ragged people go
Looking for the places only they would know

Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
---
In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of every glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, I am leaving"
But the fighter still remains

Feel I'm goin' back to Massachusetts
Something's telling me I must go home
And the lights all went out in Massachusetts
The day I left her standing on her own

Tried to hitch a ride to San Francisco
Gotta do the things I wanna do
And the lights all went out in Massachusetts
They brought me back to see my way with you