Red lanterns in a foggy night
Lonesome whistles down shining, wounded rails
As the ghost of the Superchief silently runs through the Indiana farmland
Deep in the heart of a country trying desperately to remember itself.
To remember Norman Rockwell, and mealtime prayers
Mom and Dad and second floor stairs
Guests for dinner, don't be late
Iron streetlights, garden gates
The Mission Inn and the Riverside days
Nancy Mulkee, sidewalk play
Honking horns on VJ day
Texaco fire in a bright red sky
Hop-Along Ca**idy
Neckerchief slides
Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day
Barry Fitzgerald going my way
National Velvet, Kim Novak's eyes
The "Bells of St. Mary's"
The Best Years of our Lives
County fairs and carnival rides
Tilt a wheel and shoot the moon
Electric horserace, pale balloons,
Summer days that never end
Blue Schwinn Bikes, the best of friends
Pasadena and Chappman Woods
Touch football in the neighbourhood
Merit badges
Bright white futures and cool machines
Movie stars and boyhood dreams
As the ghost of the Superchief silently runs through the Indiana farmland
Deep in the heart of a country trying desperately to remember itself.
It was "Inner Sanctum" and "Abby & Slats"
"The FBI", "In Peace and War"
"I Love a Mystery," Di Maggio's bat
Edgar Bergen and Mortimer Snerd
Corliss Archer and spoken words
That had more pictures than NBC
Grand Central Station, Fibber McGee
And Molly and the closet door
Blondie and Dagwood, lying on the floor
With my eyes closed tight and worlds away
As the radio blended night from day
There was Woodrow Wilson Jr. High
Rosemead, Colorado, Thorndale signs
Corona lunch breaks, Second World War
Fresh mowed laws and hobby stores
Distant whistle of distant trains
Five o'clock shadows and the summer rain
As the Superchief runs silently through the Indiana farmland
Deep in the heart of a country trying desperately to remember itself