Ghosts

[ericcoleman]

I want your input into this song. It can be heard at my My Space page.

starstraf asked me about this when I first posted a link to the song. It's a song about a little town dying out slowly and my mourning of this. In it there is a mention of Walmart making it impossible for the town to ever thrive again. I am worried that this will unbalance the song. The song is not about Walmart, since it had nothing to do with the demise of the town, but the reaction to the verse has been mixed. Below the cut I have two versions of the lyrics, the original, and a rewrite with the Walmart verse cut out. What do you think?

[Poll #825049]



First Version

Ghosts

The Smoke Shop boys are cooling down on the street tonight
in their best saturday night clothes
they were playing pool in the one place in town
where no decent woman would ever go

The county folk have all parked their cars
and on saturday night what they do for fun
stand out on the corner and watch the town go by
The light shines through them because they're 20 years gone

CHORUS
And I'm walking through the ghost of this old town
It's saturday night, this street should be packed
not a live person can be found
And I'm walking down this street that's filled with ghosts
It's just a picture left over in my mind and somehow it's still home

And there's a ghost of a bridge over the river
and boards on the door of most everywhere else
Robertson Parris, where my grandma worked
there are no more clothes there on the shelf

The buses still run down to Charleston
but no one ever goes
The businesses here can never open again
cause there's a Wal-Mart down the road

CHORUS

My great uncle Tater's grocery store
was behind those boards over there
And the Roxy closed ten years ago
we got DVDs so we don't care

I take my Smoke Shop chili and a bottle of dew
and I eat while I watch TV
There's this little town that's 20 years gone
just the ghosts and me

CHORUS

Second Version

Ghosts

The Smoke Shop boys are cooling down on the street tonight
in their best saturday night clothes
they were playing pool in the one place in town
where no decent woman would ever go

The county folk have all parked their cars
and on saturday night what they do for fun
stand out on the corner and watch the town go by
The light shines through them because they're 20 years gone

CHORUS
And I'm walking through the ghost of this old town
It's saturday night, this street should be packed
not a live person can be found
And I'm walking down this street that's filled with ghosts
It's just a picture left over in my mind and somehow it's still home

And there's a ghost of a bridge over the river
and boards on the door of most everywhere else
Robertson Parris, where my grandma worked
there are no more clothes there on the shelf

My great uncle Tater's grocery store
was behind those boards over there
And the Roxy closed nearly ten years ago
we got DVDs so we don't care

CHORUS

I take my Smoke Shop chili and a bottle of dew
and I eat while I watch TV
There's this little town that's 20 years gone
just the ghosts and me

CHORUS