Boomtown

I was born on a farm in a Pennsylvania valley My childhood a story-book dream In summer I’d fish in the lakes and the rivers The land and the water so pure and pristine In winter I’d go with my best friend O’Malley We’d pull our red sleds through the snow And slide down the hill right beside my Aunt Sally’s Her cows in the barn to keep them from the cold

Now It’s fifty years later this land is a Boomtown With gas drilling wells everywhere The peaceful safe heaven I knew in my childhood Has vanished beyond all repair The water is poisoned some faucets catch fire No birds are alive to sing songs This beautiful valley will be just a memory When the money and the gas are all gone

Some people get paid for the land that they lease out Some people get nothing at all Where once everyone got along like one family Now it’s neighbor against neighbor fueled by alcohol The trucks that roll in and roll out in the darkness The trailers where strangers now dwell Aunt Sally’s Granddaughter turns tricks for the workers O’Malley died of some weird new cancer last fall

Now It’s fifty years later this land is a Boomtown With gas drilling wells everywhere The peaceful safe heaven I knew in my childhood Has vanished beyond all repair The water is poisoned some faucets catch fire No birds are alive to sing songs This beautiful valley will be just a memory When the money and the gas are all gone