[Verse 1]
Crossed the county line, sun bleached and rusted sign
Main Street's quiet now, a faded dotted line
Where laughter used to bounce off brick and mortar walls
Now boarded windows echo empty, hollow calls
My childhood stoop looks smaller, paint cracked and peeled
Weeds bust through the sidewalk, nature's slow reveal
The diner's neon buzz is silent, flickered out
Just dust devils waltzing where the folks would h**g about
Footsteps heavy on the concrete, rhythmic and slow
Cataloging all the changes that the years bestow
The air hangs thick with absence, a familiar ache
Like turning pages in an album, bittersweet to take
[Chorus]
Oh, these hometown ghosts, they walk beside me still
On every corner, every hill, against my will
Though the paint is peeling and the streets are overgrown
These memories linger, carved in weathered stone
Oh, these hometown ghosts, they never fade away
Haunting every sunbeam, every shade of grey
[Verse 2]
Remember summer sweat down by the Willow Creek?
Skipping stones and secrets, hide-and-seek for weeks
Now the water's murky brown, a chemical perfume
Reflecting broken bottles in the afternoon
The high school bleachers creak, a lonely, hollow sound
Where teenage dreams took flight, then crashed into the ground
First kiss beneath the scoreboard, nervous, quick, and sweet
Now graffiti tags the lockers down the vacant street
That corner store where penny candy lined the glass
Just shattered panes reflecting how the good times pass
The playground swing hangs broken, chain links rusted through
A monument to innocence I thought I always knew
[Chorus]
Oh, these hometown ghosts, they walk beside me still
On every corner, every hill, against my will
Though the paint is peeling and the streets are overgrown
These memories linger, carved in weathered stone
Oh, these hometown ghosts, they never fade away
Haunting every sunbeam, every shade of grey
[Bridge]
(Spoken Word over sparse b**t & melancholic folk melody)
Standing in the square... silence screams so loud.
Did the heartbeat stop? Or did the rhythm just get drowned?
By the leaving... by the going... by the turning of the wheel...
Did this place let go of me? Or was it me who broke the seal?
Who abandoned who first? The question hangs like dust...
In the golden evening light... crumbling walls and broken trust...
Are the ghosts just memories... or echoes left behind...
Of the people we once were... the ties we couldn't bind?
[Outro]
(Sung, fading out slowly)
These hometown ghosts...
(Whispered, fading)
These hometown ghosts...
(Faintly)
Ghosts...