What Made America Famous?
Harry Chapin

It was the town that made America famous.
The churches full and the kids all gone to hell.
Six traffic lights and seven cops and all the streets kept clean.
The supermarket and the drug store and the bars all doing well.

They were the folks that made America famous.
The local fire department stocked with short haired volunteers.
And on Saturday night while America boozes,
The fire department showed dirty movies.
The lawyer and the grocer seeing their dreams,
Come to life on the movie screens,
While the plumber hopes that he won't be seen,
As he tries to hide his fears and he wipes away his tears.
But something's burning somewhere. Does anybody care?

We were the kids that made America famous.
The kind of kids that long since drove our parents to despair.
We were lazy long hairs dropping our, lost confused, and copping out.
Convinced our futures were in doubt and trying not to care.

We lived in the house that made America famous.
It was a rundown slum, the shame of all the decent folks in town.
We hippies and some welfare cases,
Crowded families of coal black faces,
Cramped inside some cracked old boards,
The best that we all could afford
But still to nice for the rich landlord
To ever tear it down and we could hear the sound
Of something burning somewhere. Is anybody there?

We all lived the life that made America famous.
Our cops would make a point to shadow us around our town.
And we love children put a swastika on the bright red firehouse door.
America, the beautiful, it makes a body proud.

And then came the night that made America famous.
Was it carelessness or someone's sick idea of a joke?
In the tinder box trap that we hippies lived in someone struck a spark.
At first I thought I was dreaming,
Then I saw the first flames gleaming,
And heard the sound of children screaming
Coming through the smoke. That's when the horror broke.

Something's burning somewhere. Does anybody care?

It was the fire that made America famous.
The sirens wailed and the firemen stumbled, sleepy from their homes.
And the plumber yelled: Come on let's go!
But they saw what was burning and said: Take it slow,
Let 'em sweat a little, they'll never know.
And besides, we just cleaned the chrome.
Said the plumber: Then I'm going alone.

Well, he rolled on up in the fire truck,
And raised the ladder to the ledge,
Where me and my girl and a couple of kids,
Were clinging like bats to the edge.
We staggered to salvation,
Collapsed on the street.
And I never thought that a fat man's face
Would ever look so sweet.

I shook his hand in the scene that made America famous,
And he smiled from the heart that made America great.
You see we spent the rest of that night in the home of this man we''d never known before.
It's funny when you get that close it's kind of hard to hate.

I went to sleep with the hope that made America famous.
I had the kind of a dream that maybe they're still trying to teach in school.
Of the America that made America famous,.and
Of the people who just might understand,
That how together yes we can
Create a country better than
The one we have made of this land,
We have a choice to make each man
Who dares to dream, reaching out his hand,
A prophet or just a crazy God damn
Dreamer of a fool - yes a crazy fool!

And something's burning somewhere.
Does anybody care?
Is anybody there?


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Lyrics by Harry Chapin

  30,000 Pounds of Bananas   A Better Place To Be   A Lot of Lonely People Tonight   A Quiet Little Love Affair   And the Baby Never Cries   Anthem   Any Old Kind of Day   Babysitter   Barefoot Boy   Basic Protest Song   Bluesman   Bummer   Burning Herself   Calluses   Caroline   Cat's In The Cradle   Cat's InThe Cradle   Cat's In The Cradle   Cats In The Cradle   Changes   Circle   Copper   Corey's Coming   Corey's Coming   Could you put your Light on Please?   Could You Put Your Light On, Please   Country Dreams   Dance Band on the Titanic   Dancin' Boy   Dancin' Boy   Dancing Boy   Dirt Gets Under the Fingernails   Dogtown   Dreams Go By   Empty   Everybody's Lonely   Everybody's Lonely   Fall In Love With Him   Flowers Are Red   Get On With It   God Babe You've Been Good To Me   God Babe, You've Been Good For Me   God Babe, You've Been Good For Me   Greyhound   Halfway to Heaven   I Do It For You Jane   I Don't Want To Be President   I Don't Want To Be President   I Finally Found It, Sandy   I Miss America   I Wanna Learn a Love Song   I Want to Learn a Love Song   I Wonder What Happened To Him   I Wonder What Would Happen to Him   I Wonder What Would Happen to this World   If My Mary Were Here   If You Want to Feel   It Seems You Only Love Me When It Rains   Jenny   Jubilation   Last Of The Protest Singers   Last Stand   Laugh Man   Legends of the Lost and Found   Let Time Go Lightly   Love Is Just Another Word   Mail Order Annie   Manhood   Mercenaries   Mismatch   Mr. Tanner   My Old Lady   Northwest 222   November Rain   November Rains   Odd Job Man   Old College Avenue   Old Folkie   On the Road to Kingdom Come   One Light in a Dark Valley   Paint A Picture Of Yourself   Paint A Picture of Yourself (Michael)   Pigeon Run   Poor Damned Fool   Pretzel Man   Remember When the Music   Remember When the Music (Reprise)   Roll Down the River   Salt And Pepper   Sandy   Saturday Morning   Sequel   She Is Always Seventeen   She Sings Songs Without Words   Shooting Star   Short Stories   Silly Little Girl   Six String Orchestra   Sniper   Somebody Said   Someone Keeps Calling My Name   Sometime Somewhere Wife   Sometime, Somewhere Wife   Song for Myself   Song Man   Sounds Like America To Me   Star Tripper   Stop Singing These Sad Songs   Story of a Life   Stranger with the Melodies   Sunday Morning Sunshine   Tangled Up Puppet   Taxi   The Day They Closed the Factory Down   The Mayor of Candor Lied   The Parade's Still Passing By   The Parade's Still Passing By   The Rock   The Same Sad Singer   The Shortest Story   There Only Was One Choice   There's Alot of Lonely People Tonight   They Call Her Easy   Up On the Shelf   Vacancy   W.O.L.D   W.O.L.D.   W*O*L*D   We Grew Up A Little Bit   We Were Three   What Made America Famous   Why Do Little Girls   Why Do Little Girls?   Why Should People Stay the Same   Winter Song   Woman Child   Word Wizard   You Are the Only Song

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