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


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 !@%!e

And chromium steel
And 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
But something happened on the way to that place

They threw an American flag in our face

Well I'm living here in Allentown

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


And it's getting very hard to stay
And we're living here in Allentown