God Bless Ohio

There you were, a little kid in the yard
I was a friend and a brother
There's an old picture of us playing cards
And at night we threw corn at houses
It was meant for feeding hogs
Later in life, I was playing Jimmy Fallon
You were getting chased by police through cornfields
And mauled by canine dogs
And when I go back and visit
It's like a ghost town
We travel around, and around, and around
Past the perpetually vacant Sexton's house
(Sexton's house)
Past the abandoned Molly Stark Hospital

And I think about
The old Mansfield prison where Shawshank Redemption was filmed
And I think about
The Alcoholic's Anonymous guys I knew in my teens who had been in and out
Past the old steel mill
I think about my grandpa
And that horrible nursing home
And the ugly tattoo on his sagging dying arm
I said fuck that, Dad
Whatever that is I'm never ever ever going to get one
My Dad is one of two left of his nine siblings
And when he's gone I'm gonna lay down in my bed and I'm never gonna wanna get out again
(I'm never gonna get out again)
I'm gonna be strong when I can
Cause if my little brother goes before me
Don't want to swim out into the sea and never come back

God bless Ohio
God bless every man
Woman and child
God bless every bag of bones, six feet under the snow
God bless O
God bless O
God bless Ohio

Just saw the news on my television in New York
Pike County, Ohio Massacre
If it ain't families getting shot then it's one thing or the other
Guy letting his pet lions loose in the street and putting a gun in his mouth
Young girls held as slaves in a basement by a guy
Until a neighbor ratted him out
Craigslist killers luring people by offering them work on a farm
Killed and buried their bodies out by Belden Village Mall
Stole their cars and credit cards

God bless Ohio
God bless every man
Woman and child
God bless every bag of bones, six feet under the snow
God bless O
God bless O
God bless Ohio

Oh, as sadness lingers
And the rain clouds above
Well, sadness lingers and the lightning storms
Rain floods

Oh, as sadness lingers
And the graffiti underneath the bridge
Well, sadness lingers and the old dilapidated barns
And the doors coming off their hinges

And in the empty downtown parking lots
And the lonely alleyways
And the foreclosed homes that once had kiddie pools in the yards
And cars parked in the driveway

Oh, but the beautiful things from Ohio
My mother, my mother, my mother, my mother
And my walks along the path of the Tuscarawas Street
(Of the Tuscarawas Street)

The beautiful children of my sister
And the blue herons gliding across the pond
(Blue herons gliding across the pond)
The black squirrels nibbling on acorns
The fireflies flickering on the summer lawn
(On the summer lawn)
Domino's pizza brings me back to when I was younger
When I was younger, when I was younger, when I was younger, when I was younger
These kids I hear outside my window
I was one of them, I was one of them, I was one of them, I was one of them
Now I'm the old man in the chair
Deep in thought in the living room
I'm that old man now and I'm grateful that I got this far
And that I've become him
And when I go back, we drive around
We drive around, we drive around, we drive around, we drive around
(We drive around)
The old supermarket we used to go hide behind
Is closed down
(Is closed down)
I was raised on groceries my mom brought home from their spring, summer, fall, winter
(Spring, summer, fall, winter)
Velveeta cheese and Wonder Bread and chocolate milk, and Salisbury steak TV dinners
(Salisbury steak TV dinners)
She squirreled away a few bucks along the way because she loved you and me
(She loved you and me)
So she could make sure we had a few gifts each year under the Christmas tree
(Under the Christmas tree)
At the risk of pissing my dad off very, very, very badly
She socked that money away from those grocery store trips without him knowing
For you and me

What saved me from the dark clouds hanging over Ohio?
What's chasing the dream, baby?
Who would have known
That the pursuit of love and music would have even bought me a home
Or'd have take me to Tokyo, to Tel Aviv, to Athens, to Reykjavík, and Rome

There is healing in writing poems
There is healing in psychotherapy
There is healing in taking walks along the beach
But never underestimate the healing of music, baby

Some songs are funny and some are sad
Some are short, some are long
There is nothing as healing and powerful
As the power of song

As the power of song
As the power of song
As the power of song
As the power of song

I was walking along the Hudson looking at the New York skyline on my break from the studio in Hoboken
Every pay phone I saw I checked to see which ones worked and which ones were broken
And in my head there was a melody going
Oh

[Outro]
God bless O
God bless O
God bless Ohio
God bless O
God bless O
God bless Ohio
God bless O
God bless O
God bless Ohio
God bless O
God bless O
God bless Ohio
God bless O
God bless O
God bless Ohio
God bless O
God bless O
God bless Ohio
God bless O
God bless O
God bless Ohio
God bless O
God bless O
God bless Ohio
God bless O
God bless O
God bless Ohio
God bless O
God bless O
God bless Ohio
God bless O
God bless O
God bless Ohio
God bless O
God bless O
God bless Ohio