The Day They Closed the Factory Down - Harry Chapin

She said, «I watch him walk down Main Street

A sweet one man parade

He’d tip his hat and just like that

Another score he’d made

I’d watch the girls all watch him

Moths drawn to the flame

The money showed, the laughter flowed

From the way he played the game

He played the game

«Some said he was a rambler

Some said he was a rake

Some said he was a gambler

Some said he was a fake

But I knew him like no one else

A gentleman was he

His days belonged to himself

His nights belonged to me

Belonged to me

«And they’re talkin' in the town square

In the taverns and the shops

I hear them talkin' everywhere

Their talkin' never stops

But all their words of wisdom

Won’t make you go away

The day they closed the factory down

They had nothing

Nothing left to say

She said, «I take care of my momma now

Since my father died

I’m raising baby brother, too

The way my father tried

His thirty years in the factory

Ended in that furnace blast

But they settled up for ten bucks a week

And the bitterness is past

It did not last

(BACK-UP: Talkin', Talkin', Talkin')

«So they’re moving somewhere else now

With their cloths and fabric press

They found themselves another town

Where they’ll make shirts for less

And that is why he said last night

He won’t watch the old town die

But I would not take what he tried to leave

When he told me 'Good bye'

Oh, it’s good bye

«And they’re talkin' in the town square

In the taverns and the shops

I hear them talkin' everywhere

Their talkin' never stops

But all their words of wisdom

Won’t make you go away

The day they closed the factory down

They had nothing

Nothing left to say

«So they’re talkin' of the changes

The closing brings about

Talkin' of the hard times

And the young folks moving out

Yes, they’re talking as if talking

Can make everything all right

But all the talking ever done

Won’t bring him back tonight

Oh, tonight

And they’re talkin' talkin' talkin' talkin'

Talkin' in the shops

I hear them talkin' everywhere

Their talkin' never stops

But all their words of wisdom

Won’t make you go away

The day they closed the factory down

They had nothing

Nothing left to say."