Allentown

This song is about young people living in the northeast of America (translation) Their lives are miserable because the steal factories are closing down (translation) They desperately want to leave (translation) But they stay because they were brought up to believe that things were going to get better (translation) Maybe that sounds familiar (translation) Well we're living here in Allentown And they're closing all the factories down Out in bethlehem they're killing time Filling out forms Standing in line Well our fathers fought the second world war Spent their weekends on the jersey shore Met our mothers in the U.S.O. Asked them to dance Danced with them slow And we're living here in Allentown But the restlessness was handed down And it's getting very hard to stay Well we're waiting here in allentown For the Pennsylvania we never found For the promises our teachers gave If we worked hard If we behaved So the graduations hang on the wall Awh they never really helped us at all No they never taught us what was real Iron and coke And chromium steel And we're waiting here in Allentown But they've taken all the coal from the ground And the union people crawled away Every child had a pretty good shot To get at least as far as their old man got But something happened on the way to that place They threw an American flag in our face Well I'm living here in Allentown And it's hard to keep a good man down But I won't be getting up today And it's getting very hard to stay And we're living here in Allentown