On The Way Downtown how many times have I washed my face combed my hair and left this place? felt the shiver in my chest when I hit the door the promise of something here worth living for? had a fight with the woman that had my kids can't get along with anyone what if I did? I'm going back to the corner where we used to meet when our dreams were young and the nights were sweet I'm going out tonight goin' way downtown where my friends who died still hang around see what's shakin' as the leaves turn brown the seasons been and gone another one's comin' on and I'm on my way downtown well it was thirty years ago in the setting sun and I was walkin' down Union Street I started to run down into a cellar where the music screamed I guess it hit me harder than I ever dreamed in the Palace Theater hall later on that night there were miracles in store but not a soul in sight pay phone ringing didn't seem so strange anything could happen everything could change I'm goin' out tonight goin' way downtown where my friends who died still hang around all that moonlight spillin' on the ground a seasons been and gone we used to gather here flirt and laugh now all my dreams are cut in half now the girls are smokin' cigarettes and chewin' gum they just get scared when they see me come way downtown the corners moved the sandstone slabs are worn and grooved turning black in the first drops of rain you can smell the earth and sky again hear the rattle of the leaves the locusts call underneath the elms by the school yard wall summers over and the fields are tall a seasons been and gone another one's coming on and I'm on my way downtown © 1997 Peter Case and Joshua Case BUG Music (BMI) ©2000 Vanguard Records