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USA Lyrics
When I was young
I watched the cars
When I was older
I drank in bars
When I was young
I chewed the leaves
When I was older
I drank with thieves
I found a love
She gave me dreams
She left me drunk
In New Orleans
So cold and lonely
So all alone
I wished my heart
Was made of stone
I took the cold bright needle
I used it as a sword
My eyes have seen the glory of
The coming of the Lord
I burned across the delta
I swam across the ford
My eyes have seen the glory of
The coming of the Lord
When I was a young man
Standing on this road
My empty belly
An aching hole
An old man said to me
"Kid don't you know
That it's the same
Wherever you go"
I gambled in two graveyards
I won against the odds
With the smiling saints
And the silent saviours
With the maggots and the gods
I cursed the things they showed me
I could never see again
And the howling of the wind at night
I wrote upon the rain
I found the thing
For which I prayed
And came back home
To the USA
With a heart of stone
And now I know
That it's the same
Wherever you go
I watched the cars
When I was older
I drank in bars
When I was young
I chewed the leaves
When I was older
I drank with thieves
I found a love
She gave me dreams
She left me drunk
In New Orleans
So cold and lonely
So all alone
I wished my heart
Was made of stone
I took the cold bright needle
I used it as a sword
My eyes have seen the glory of
The coming of the Lord
I burned across the delta
I swam across the ford
My eyes have seen the glory of
The coming of the Lord
When I was a young man
Standing on this road
My empty belly
An aching hole
An old man said to me
"Kid don't you know
That it's the same
Wherever you go"
I won against the odds
With the smiling saints
And the silent saviours
With the maggots and the gods
I cursed the things they showed me
I could never see again
And the howling of the wind at night
I wrote upon the rain
For which I prayed
And came back home
To the USA
With a heart of stone
And now I know
That it's the same
Wherever you go
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This is one hell of a depressing song. it makes me think of a hardcore coming-of-age that when this person is through, he is sort of...stone-hearted.
This reminds me of Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
Thematically this seems very close to Jackson C. Frank's "Blues Run the Game," only it's far more depressing and menacing-sounding. Both songs are about someone hoping that a change of scenery will improve their outlook on life, but they soon realize that the feelings of hopelessness follow them wherever they go. Shane sounds especially ragged here and it makes the song that much more wrenching.