Home Again Lyrics & Chords By Martin Simpson

I've been to Gary Indiana, Bethlehem PA
Seen the sinter dust at Consett
Smelled the smoke on Swansea Bay
And all the mills in Sheffield
They rolled steel just the same
But a furnace never burned so bright
As down East Common Lane

The Good Companions hut's long gone
Where I first learned a leaving song
John and Dave and Mo
They sang many's the sad refrain
And I listen hard between the lines
I longed for love in hard, hard times
Followed the road and read the signs
That led me home again

I've been to Gary Indiana, Bethlehem PA
Seen the sinter dust at Consett
Smelled the smoke on Swansea Bay
And all the mills in Sheffield
They rolled steel just the same
But a furnace never burned so bright
As down East Common Lane

I hear the shunting ghosts in goods yards
By the ironstone school walls
The yards of weeds and gravel
But the echoes crash and call
Across the bridge, across the years
I hear them clear and plain
All the way from Roland Road
To East Common Lane

I've been to Gary Indiana, Bethlehem PA
Seen the sinter dust at Consett
Smelled the smoke on Swansea Bay
And all the mills in Sheffield
They rolled steel just the same
But a furnace never burned so bright
As down East Common Lane

Harry and Joyce they took in strays
They took care of my mother
They cut the hedges, did the shopping
Said it was no bother
The kindness of the finest
Crimson skies at dead of night
The kid on the corner is waiting for the bully
And spoiling for a fight

I had a shotgun house on Bourbon Street
Just down the block from Jean Lafitte's
I'd sit on the stoop with a friend of mine
And watch parades go by
I'd already left a score of towns
Delta hot, Great Lakes cold
Didn't know I was looking but I hadn't found
A place I could grow old

I've been to Gary Indiana, Bethlehem PA
Seen the sinter dust at Consett
Smelled the smoke on Swansea Bay
And all the mills in Sheffield
They rolled steel just the same
But a furnace never burned so bright
As down East Common Lane.