Small Town On The River

Intro: C/G - F/C(open 1st string)

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They used to come to town from the Naval base
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Looking for a stiff drink and a pretty face
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Hang around the whore houses all night long
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Well some were drifters and some were bums
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Some just waited for the war to come
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Out behind the factory with a bottle and a factory girl
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In that small town on the river, just a small town on the river

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Well that December war broke out, many a woman lost her man
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Some wrote from overseas, some didn’t and their women didn’t understand
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And the whores left for the harbor towns where the business was still good
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And the factory girls put in double shifts, worked as much time as they could

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In that small town on the river, just a small town on the river

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Well some men came home aces, some were carried home
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All of them were heroes, no man was left alone
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Some took jobs, some went to school, some found they’d fathered kids
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Some men tried, but could not forget, some wound up on the skids
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In that small town on the river, just a small town on the river


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Well forty years later the town remains the same
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One mill burnt down, another one was built
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The paychecks now come from a different name
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And at the Eagles and the Legion halls, no one seems to age
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With the same jokes told and the TV on; the paper open to the sports page
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In that small town on the river, just a small town on the river

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And I was talking with the bartender last night at the PAC
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A Navy man from World War II, sharp dresser though he don’t have to be
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And over a double bourbon, he said “I’ll tell ya man to man”
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“Well this town died forty years ago, son; get out while you can”
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It’s just a small town on the river, we’re nothing but a small town on the river
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We’re nothing but a small town on the river