Nanci Griffith - This Old Town lyrics

This old town should have burned down in 1929
Well that's when we stood in line
Waiting for our soup, swallowing our pride
And this old town should have
Burned down in 1931
When the rain refused to come
Air filled up our bellies
And dust filled up our lungs
And we thought our time had come

And this old town was built by hand
In the dustbowl of the motherland
There must be rock beneath this sand
I'll be damned this town still stands

And this old town should have
Burned down in 1944
When the last man went to war
They came back different
If they came back at all
And this old town should have
Burned down in 1956
That's when the twister hit
And all our hopes were buried
Beneath the boards and bricks
And we almost called it quit's

And this old town was built by hand
In the dustbowl of the motherland
There must be rock beneath this sand
I'll be damned this town still stands

Somewhere in the distance
The city lights do shine
The sidewalks gleam with neon dreams
That call from time to time
And when my children's children ask me
Why I didn't go
I'll say the heart of any town
Is the people that you've known
And they'll always call you home

And this old town was built by hand
In the dustbowl of the motherland
There must be rock beneath the sand
I'll be damned this town still stands