From the recording In My Neighborhood
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">“Please, don’t think I’m being smug . . . “ I mean this to be about being thankful but, ironically, it probably can’t help but sound boastful.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;"><strong><em>© Steven E. Cutts, 2013</em></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">a Studio C recording, <strong>December 2013</strong></span></p>
Lyrics
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Tornadoes don’t touch down in my neighborhood;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">They twist their way through other people’s lives.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Forest fires torch mountain homes;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">They leave my neighborhood alone.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Hurricanes can’t wash away</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Foundations that were built to stay.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">And Danger stays away from my neighborhood;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Cars don’t race up and down the streets.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Kids can ride their bikes to school;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">The chance of trouble’s miniscule;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Bad stuff doesn’t happen here.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">That isn’t true in places that are near.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Outside my neighborhood (but not so far away)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">The charm is lost and gone.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">It’s not Easy Street – it’s not safe, and it’s not calm.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">I see pain in people’s eyes staring from the doorways</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Where they slept last night –</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Guns and anger mixing badly in a fight –</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Police cars with their sirens wailing, flashing lights.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">So I hurry back to my neighborhood.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">There’s not a lot of noise in my neighborhood;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Music doesn’t blare throughout the night.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">If children scream, it’s make-believe –</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Games of tag and hide & seek.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">The only true annoying sound</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Is when Good Humor’s coming ‘round.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">And no one’s lost his job in my neighborhood;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">No one’s mortgage has ever gone unpaid.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">There’s money in the pension plans;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">We take vacations ‘cause we can;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Families don’t run out of food;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">We all have up-beat, hopeful attitudes.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Don’t assume my neighborhood is</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Some sort of McMansion Wonderland!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">We’re not billionaires; we’re very middle class, you understand.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Please, don’t think I’m being smug when I say our lives are awfully nice --</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Not some Norman Rockwell paradise;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">We didn’t get here without sacrifice,</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">But it’s worth the price –</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">My neighborhood.</span></p>