Faces of America

There was a time, a simpler time

When a man could be sure of where he stood

I used to work at the yard, working honest and hard

The hours were long but the pay was oh so good

I had a family and friends, oh so many friends

We'd drive to the lake on holidays

Back then it wasn't so dear for a sandwich or beer

At night I still dream I can see their faces

Certain things that you depend upon

There are places that you know

And the faces of America

Oh, where do they go, where did they go

I was born on a farm, a mid-western farm

I rode on the tractor with my dad

And though we never had much it was always enough

And we made the best with what we had

But then came four years of drought and the bottom dropped out

My father was broken like the rest

And I can still see his hands signing over his lands

And the bankers grow fat on the flesh of the dispossessed

Certain things that you depend upon

There are places I can go I sift the ashes of America

For someplace I used to know

Someplace I used to know

Someplace I used to know

There was a time, a simpler time

When a man could be sure of where he stood

I used to work at the yard, working honest and hard

The hours were long but the pay was oh so good

Certain things that you depend upon I used to think were guaranteed

Like the right of every man to work And feed his family

And the faces of America seem so distant and estranged

Have their eyes become too blind to see

How much their hearts have changed

How much their hearts have changed

How much their hearts have changed