Southern California Wants To Be Western New…
Dar Williams

There's a part of the country could drop off tomorrow in an earthquake,
Yeah it's out there on the cutting edge, the people move, the sidwalks shake.
And there's another part of the country with a land that gently creaks and thuds,
Where the heavy snows make faucets leak in bathrooms with free-standing tubs.
They're in houses that are haunted, the with kids who lie awake and think about
All the generations past who used to use that dripping sink.

And sometimes one place wants to slip into the other just to see
What it's like to trade it's demons for the restless ghost of mrs. ogilvey,
She used to pick the mint from her front yard to dress the sunday pork,
Sometimes southern california wants to be western new york.

It wants to have a family business in sheet metal or power tools,
It wants to have a diner where the coffee tastes like diesel fuel,
And it wants to find the glory of a town they say has hit the skids,
And it wants to have a snow day that will turn it's parents into kids,
And it's embarrassed, but it's lusting after a suny student with mousy brown hair who is
Taking out the compost, making coffee in long underwear.

And southern california says to save a place, I'll meet you there,
And it tried to pack up it's miata, all it could fit was a prayer,
Sometimes the stakes are bogus, sometimes the fast lane hits a fork,
Sometimes southern california wants to be western new york.

Tempe, arizona thinks the everglades are greener and wetter,
And washington, d. c. thinks that atlanta integrated better,
But I think that southern california has more pain that we can say,
Cause it wants to travel back in time, but it just can't leave l. a.

But now I hear they've got a theme park planned, designed to make you gasp and say,
Oh, I bet that crumbling mill town was a booming mill town in it's day,
And the old investors scoff at this, but the young ones hope they'll take a chance,
And they promise it will make more dough than mickey mouse in northern france,
And the planners planned an opening day, a town historian will host,
And the waitresses look like waitresses who want to leave for the west coast.

And they'll have puttering on rainy weekends, autumn days that make you feel sad,
They'll have hundred year old plumbing and the family you never had,
And a hudson river clean-up concert and a bundle-bearing stork,
And I hear they've got a menu planned, it's trés western new york.


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Lyrics by Dar Williams

  After All   After All [DVD]   All My Heroes Are Dead   Alleluia   And A God Descended   Another Mystery   Anthem   Are You Out There   Are You Out There Intro   Arrival   As Cool As I Am   Beautiful Enemy   Better Things   Blue Light of the Flame   Book of Love   Bought And Sold   Buzzer   Calamity John   Calling The Moon   Christians and Pagans   Closer to Me   College Girl   Comfortably Numb   Comfortably Numb - Ani Difranco   Crystal Creek   Echoes   Elegy   Empire   End of the Summer   Everybody Knows this is Nowhere   Family   Farewell To The Old Me   February   Fishing In The Morning   Flinty Kind Of Woman   For Everyone   Go To The Woods   Highway Patrolman   Holly Ann (The Weaver Song)   Holly Tree   Hudson   I am the one who will remember everything   I Had No Right   I Have Been Around the World   I Have Lost My Dreams   I Love, I Love   I Love, I Love [Travelling II]   I Saw A Bird Fly Away   I Will Free Myself   I Won't Be Your Yoko Ono   I'll Miss You Till I Meet You   If I Wrote You   Imagine   In Love But Not At Peace   Iowa   Iowa (Traveling 3)   Iowa (Traveling III)   Ireland   It Happens Every Day   It Happens Every Day [DVD]   It's A War In There   It's Alright   Liar   Mark Rothko Song   Mercy Of The Fallen   Midnight Radio   Mortal City   My Friends   New York Is a Harbor   O Canada   O Canada Girls   Party Generation   Play The Greed   Playing To The Firmament   Road Buddy   So Close to My Heart   Southern California Wants To Be Western New York   Spring Street   Starman   Stop Smoking   Storm King   Summer Child   Summerday   Teen For God   Teenagers, Kick Our Butts   Terrarium   The Babysitter's Here   The Ballad Of Mary Magdalen   The Ballad Of Mary Magdalene   The Beauty of the Rain   The Blessings   The Business of Things   The Christians & The Pagans   The Christians & The Pagans   The Christians and the Pagans   The Easy Way   The End of the Summer   The Great Unknown   The Hudson   The Light and the Sea   The Ocean   The One Who Knows   The Poignant, Yet Pointless, Crisis Of A Coed   The Pointless, Yet Poignant, Crisis of a Co - Ed   The Pointless, Yet Poignant, Crisis of a Co-Ed   The Tide Falls Away   The Weaver Song   The World's Not Falling Apart   This Earth   This Is Not The House That Pain Built   This Land Is Your Land   This Was Pompeii   Traveling Again   Traveling Again (Traveling 1)   Traveling Again (Traveling I)   Troubled Times   Two Sides of the River   We Learned The Sea   Weight of the World   What Do You Hear in These Sounds   What Do You Love More Than Love   When I Was A Boy   When It Gets That Way   When Sal's Burned Down   Whispering Pines   Wild Mountain Thyme   Wilder Than Her   You Are Everyone   You Rise and Meet the Day   You Will Ride With Me Tonight   You're Aging Well   Your Fire Your Soul

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