That Summer

I get the same restless feelin'
every time I roll back into my hometown:
ever since the railway's been closed,
it's a place for the ghost and the hound.
The factory stands in the darkness
where once it was bristling with light;
the ferris wheel now left to the rust and the night.
Remember how we used to drive?
Somebody cleared the streets out for us.
Coming back home on a Saturday night,
you shouted 'These are the best days of our lives!'
and I just smiled 'cause I knew:
That every heart has to mend,
in the meantime we pretend
she won't burn all the letters you send...
That there's a summer that won't end.
What happened to you Mary?
I always thought you'd find a nice, rich guy.
'Housewife' ain't no job for the
prettiest girl behind the Dixie line.
Billy's pushing daisies, Frank's been drinking
since his wife said 'Don't come back!'
Bobby's hand is full of needle marks,
Charlie's off cheatin' at the racetrack.
Remember how we used to lose?
Somebody always stole the girls from under us.
Coming back home on a Saturday night,
you shouted 'These are the best days of our lives!'
and I just smiled 'cause I knew:
That every heart has to mend,
in the meantime we pretend
she won't burn all the letters you send...
That there's a summer that won't end.
Then it hit me - a city's not the bricks,
not the monuments, nor the kicks
that the broken people I used to call friends
get from bad things nowadays.
It's how I remember everything, it's how I remember all of you;
that summer, those were the best days of our lives.