Route 23
Well I spent my whole life since I was high as a knee
By that two-lane blacktop they call Route 23
My daddy ran a service station
And the pumps they did shine
I'd watch him wash the windshields, keep the old look to that mind
Well the days they were long, but the money was good
The only things that changed were the seasons and the shapes of the moon
'Til the government came on the radio in late '55
Said the state's gonna build a new highway
One that's fast, smooth and wide
With that new highway, no one stops here anymore
And you can't make living without swinging that door
The sign by the roadside still says "Come On In"
But the bulbs are long since burnt out, not to light up again
Now daddy was as stubborn as a mule in the snow
He said, "Good folks return to the places that they know"
But after the gravel arrived and those steamrollers whined
All those good folks left me and daddy
And those two lanes behind
With that new highway, no one stops here anymore
And you can't make living without swinging that door
The sign by the roadside still says "Come On In"
But the bulbs are long since burnt out, not to light up again
Now the calendar on the wall still reads 19 and 75
No one crossed out the day that my daddy died
We laid him in the ground 'neath that old sycamore tree
That shades a boarded up gas station out on Route 23
With that new highway, no one stops here anymore
And you can't make living without swinging that door
The sign by the roadside still says "Come On In"
But the bulbs are long since burnt out, not to light up again
Yeah, the bulbs are long since burnt out, not to light up again