Lyrics Allentown - Live at Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY - June 1990 - Billy Joel

Shh, ooh, ha

Well we're living here in Allentown
And they're closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they're killing time
Filling out forms, standing in line

Well our fathers fought the Second World War
Spent their weekends on the Jersey Shore
Met our mothers in the USO
Asked them to dance, danced with them slow

And we're living here in Allentown

But the restlessness was handed down
And it's getting very hard to stay
Ooh-oh-ho (shh, ooh, ha)

Well, we're waiting here in Allentown
For the Pennsylvania we never found
For the promises our teachers gave
If we worked hard, if we behaved

So the graduations hang on the wall
But they never really helped us at all
No they never taught us what was real
Iron and coke, chromium steel

Well, we're waiting here in Allentown

But they've taken all the coal from the ground
And the union people crawled away

Every child had a pretty good shot
To get at least as far as their old man got
Something happened on the way to that place
They threw an American flag in our face
Ooh-oh-ho (shh, ooh, ha)

Well, we're living here in Allentown

And it's hard to keep a good man down
But I won't be getting up today

Hey, ooh-oh-ho (shh, ooh, ha)
And it's getting very hard to stay
Well, we're living here in Allentown