Well we are living here in Allentown / And they're closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they're killing time / Filling out forms, standing in line
Well our fathers fought the Second World War / Spent their weekends on the Jersey Shore
Met our mothers at the USO / Asked them to dance, danced with them slow
And we're living here in Allentown / But the restlessness was handed down
And it's getting very hard to stay / Well we're waiting here in Allentown for the Pennsylvania we never found
For the promises our teachers gave if we worked hard, if we behavedSo the graduations hang on the wall but they never really helped us at all
No they never taught us what was real /Iron and coke, chromium steel
And we're waiting here in Allentown / But they've taken all the coal from the ground
And the union people crawled away / Every child had a pretty good shot to get at least as far as their old man got
Something happened on the way to that place / They threw an American flag in our face
Well, I'm living here in Allentown / And it's hard to keep a good man down
But I won't be getting up today /
And it's getting very hard to stay
And we're living here in Allentown /
