More songs by Ole 60
Description
In this smoky town, everything seems to have frozen in time, but only at first glance. The asphalt is cracked, the houses have burned to the ground, and the factories continue to spew gray smoke into the sky. And yet, it is here that a strange sense of permanence can be felt, as if someone had covered life with a blanket smelling of coal and wet grass.
Old Toyotas are living out their days on bald tires, fishermen are still asking for luck by the river, and teenagers are lighting their lighters in the darkness of the park, just like their parents did. Everything repeats itself, and there is something comforting in this repetition. Even if the river flows brown and muddy, and the body breaks down from hard work before the soul does, you still want to stay right here.
The sunset over the school baseball game illuminates this world with a soft glow. And even though the city drains your strength, it also preserves the warmth of familiar faces. It's as if you can hear it saying: if you're going to lie down forever, then only under the sky of your native Smokestack Town.
Director Kevin Paul
Lyrics and translation
Original
Well, I took a little trip to the smokestack town
It's the only thing that helps me when I'm feeling down
Took a left in the high school parking lot
Lit a spliff in the VP parking spot
Got an old Toyota, four bald tires
Took her down River Road and past Southwire
Pulled it off that two-story house burnt down
Nothing left but ashes now
I've been 'cross Hogsville to the paper mill
Well, it's nice to see it's up and running still
Used to sleep down here with a rod and reel and pray for a little luck
And my daddy's still working the graveyard shift
Never seemed to really struggle much at all with it
Soon enough, he saved it up enough to call it quits
'Cause it broke his body down
And that's the way it goes in a lonely smokestack town
This town ain't really ever changed
Since my parents' parents gave 'em names
But it's nice to see the same old friendly faces roaming 'round
That sunset sky still up in flames
At a district high school baseball game
And the grass is blue and the river's running brown
In a smokestack town
Well, I pulled on in the Vastwood Park
Where the kids are still hanging out after dark
No light but a butane lighter spark
Smells a little too loud
They swear their parents still don't know
But they were here too, not long ago
After all, there ain't elsewhere to go in a lonely smokestack town
It's just nice to see the kids still hang around
And this town ain't really ever changed
Since my parents' parents gave 'em names
But it's nice to see the same old friendly faces roaming 'round
That sunset sky still up in flames
At a district high school baseball game
Where the grass is blue and the river's running brown
In a smokestack town
This town ain't really ever changed
Since my parents' parents gave 'em names
But it's nice to see the same old friendly faces roaming 'round
That sunset sky still up in flames
At a district high school baseball game
And the grass is blue and the river's running brown
And I hope and pray they lay my body down
In a smokestack town
Smokestack town