[Verse 1: Grant McLennan]
I recall a schoolboy coming home
Through fields of cane
To a house of tin and timber
And in the sky
A rain of falling cinders
From time to time
The waste memory-wastes
[Verse 2: Grant McLennan]
I recall a boy in bigger pants
Like everyone
Just waiting for a chance
His father's watch
He left it in the showers
From time to time
The waste memory-wastes
[Verse 3: Grant McLennan]
I recall a bigger brighter world
A world of books
And silent times in thought
And then the railroad
The railroad takes him home
Through fields of cattle
Through fields of cane
From time to time
The waste memory-wastes
The waste memory-wastes
[Verse 4: Robert Forster]
I recall the same, a reply
A plan you once had
From time down to mind
That time was bad, so I knew where I was
Alone, and so at home
[Outro: Grant McLennan]
Further, longer, higher, older