Clear Creek

I remember like I was there last week Wandering down a holler in little Clear Creek Back when time was slow and the water was clean And I'd have called you crazy if you said I'd leave I remember mommy in her red lipstick Somehow looking pretty chasing us five kids And daddy in his coal truck rolling in We didn't have much but we had all you need In little Clear Creek I remember old men talking war And boys getting caught with girls next door Walking 3 miles to the grocery store You'd hit a ride home in someone's Ford I remember going to the old high school Smoking cigarettes because you had to look cool Living like anybody had a clue What was going on in the world outside those trees And little Clear Creek Well, soon we learned the world didn't give a damn Head off to the mines or Vietnam And mama tried to warn me to leave that place But I fell in love, so I just stayed And I remember saving every dime we got To build a little home up log by log And just how good it felt in his big arms Raising two kids in our little backyard And I remember when your mom and daddy met He came by the house looking scared to death They got married and you know what's next They moved up north to grow your family Away from Clear Creek And I remember too when times turned bad That mining life broke your poppaw's back And years go by and money don't last And people get old, and that's just that So we packed up and moved out too To start all over somewhere new But there's no pain like the one I knew Closing the door on a lifetime's memories Goodbye, Clear Creek Now the mountain's been stripped and blown to dust And most of our friends have blackened lungs And all the young folks are on pills these days With bills they can't pay and kids they can't raise And every old storefront's boarded shut The high school closed and the holler floods And that home we built's done got burned down I'm really not sure what's left there now But I'll remember life how it was for me Learning and loving in little Clear Creek Back when time was slow and the water was clean Lord, how I miss what used to be But looking back now at all that's changed I wouldn't undo one single thing Because all that I lost meant something gained So I thank God for all He gave to me Yeah, I thank God for friends and family And for little Clear Creek