4th Place | “Ghosts Of My Hometown”

4th Place
“Ghosts Of My Hometown”
Gene Owens
Atlanta, Georgia

I was born in the valley where the three rivers meet
The Ohio, Monongahela, and The Allegheny
And along those river banks sit the faithless factories
My father’s ghost haunts those halls with every breath I breathe
I saw what they took from him and I swear …
They won’t do that to me

I was born in the shadow of the penitentiary
Where the poor work and toil believing they are free
And the sweet bells of mercy float on the evening breeze,
Winter comes early and the still waters freeze,
The gothic cathedral stands with an eye …
That never blinks

(Chorus)
The ghosts of my hometown
Follow me around
From the West back to the East
Into the arms of the South
Like a shiver I can’t shake
Or a high and lonesome sound
The ghosts of my hometown

I remember the South Side under a blanket of snow
Standing in the cold tossing rocks at your window
You’d climb down from your room and the city would come alive
We’d take the 10th Street Bridge to Oakland strung out like Christmas lights
But now those days are gone and I’m left haunted …
By how you died

(Chorus)
The ghosts of my hometown
Follow me around
From the West back to the East
Into the arms of the South
Like a shiver I can’t shake
Or a high and lonesome sound
The ghosts of my hometown

I was born in the valley where the three rivers meet
And just like those rivers I’m always trying to leave
And the spirit of the Iroquois and Shawnee haunt these hills
Like the echo of my father’s voice in abandoned steel mills
And the ghost of the girl I loved who took too many…
Designer pills

Repeat Chorus