Hard to Believe - Slaid Cleaves

We got old time bars

Still standing on downtown city streets

Old ladies serving drinks inside

With no color in their cheeks

Listening to a Haggard song

You can put your old blue collar on

Old Milwaukee on Christmas Eve

It’s hard to believe

Street girls hop from foot to foot

Trying to keep warm

Trying to pay down a few bills

Before the next big storm

On a corner, trembling in the wind

Amazed at the mess they’re in

Wipin' their noses on their sleeve

It’s hard to believe

I swore I’d leave the day they knocked

That old smokestack down

But there’s a guy I need to talk to

Before I quit this town

Drivin' past the prison yard

Still got my old Teamsters card

Still waitin' on my reprieve

It’s hard to believe

When I looked into her smiling eyes

I saw dreams so fine

Like the Spirit of Chicago

On a lonesome old railroad line

I would have gone with her that day

I just watched her as she drove away

I guess one of us had to leave

It’s hard to believe

Here comes another

Blown up kid from over there

Making the whole world

Safe for the millionaires

The same old swindle hides

Behind a fresh new coat of lies

It’s no time to be naive

It’s hard to believe

We got old time bars

Still standing on downtown city streets

Old ladies serving drinks inside

With no color in their cheeks

Listening to a Haggard song

You can put your old blue collar on

It’s another New Years Eve

It’s hard to believe