What Made America Famous

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Harry Chapin

E A D G B e

- - - - - -

G 3 2 0 0 0 3

C 3 2 0 1 0

C/B 2 2 0 1 0

Am 0 2 2 1 0

D 0 2 3 2

C/G 3 3 2 0 1 0

F 1 3 3 2 1 1

Bb 1 3 3 3 1

A 0 2 2 2 0

B 2 4 4 4 2

N.C.

It was the town that made America famous

Am D G The churches full and the kids all gone to hell

Six traffic lights, and seven cops

And all the streets kept clean

The supermarket and the drug store and the bars all doin' well

Now they were the folks that made America famous

Our local fire department stocked with short-haired volunteers

And on Saturday night, while America boozes

The fire department showed dirty movies

The lawyer and the grocer seein' their dreams come to life on the movie screen

While the plumber hopes that he won't be seen, as he tries to hide his fears

And he wipes away his tears

But somethin's burinin' somewhere

DOES ANYBODY CARE?

We were the kids that made America famous

The kind of kids that long since drove our parents to despair

We were lazy long-hairs droppin' out

Lost, confused, and coppin' out

Convinced our futures were in doubt

And tryin' not to care

We lived in the house that made America famous

It was a run-down slum, the shame of all the decent folks in town

We're hippies and some welfare cases

Crowded families of cold, black faces

Cramped inside some cracked old boards

The best that we all could afford

But still too fine for the rich landlord to ever tear it down

And we could hear the sound

Of somethin' burnin' somewhere

IS ANYBODY THERE?

We all lived the life that made America famous

Our cops would make a point to shadow us around our town

And we love children put a swastika on the bright red firehouse door

America, the beautiful, it makes a body proud

And then came the night that made America famous

Was it carelessness or someone's sick idea of a joke?

In the tinder-box trap we hippies lived in someone struck a spark

At first I thought that I was dreamin'

Then I saw the first flames gleamin'

And heard the sound of children screamin'

Comin' through the smoke

And somethin's burnin' somewhere

DOES ANYBODY CARE?

Oh, it was the fire that made America famous

The sirens wailed and the firemen stumbled sleepin' from their homes

And when the plumber yelled, "C'mon, let's go!"

They saw what was burnin' and said, "Take it slow"

"Let 'em sweat a little"

"They'll never know"

"And besides, we just cleaned the chrome"

N.C. G

Said the plumber, "Then I'm goin' alone"

Well he rolled on up in the fire truck

And raised the ladder to the ledge

While me and my girl and a couple of kids were clinging like bats to the edge

We staggered to salvation

Collapsed on the street

And I never thought that a fat man's face

Would ever look so sweet

I shook his hand in the scene that made America famous

And he smiled from the heart that made America great

We spent the rest of that night in the home of this man that we'd never known before

It's funny; when you get that close, it's kind of hard to hate

I went to sleep with the hope that made America famous

I had the kind of a dream that maybe they're still trying to teach in school

O' the America that made America famous

And of the people who just might understand

That how together, yes we can

Create a country better than

The one we have made of this land

We have the choice

To make each man

Who dares to dream

Reachin' out his hand

A prophet or just a crazy damn dreamer or a fraud

Yes, a crazy fraud

and somethin's burnin' somewhere

DOES ANYBODY CARE?

IS ANYBODY THERE?

IS ANYBODY THERE?????

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