From the recording In My Neighborhood

<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">&ldquo;Please, don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m being smug . . . &ldquo;&nbsp; I mean this to be about being thankful but, ironically, it probably can&rsquo;t help but sound boastful.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;"><strong><em>&copy; 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;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Tornadoes don&rsquo;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&rsquo;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&rsquo;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;">&nbsp;</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&rsquo;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&rsquo;s miniscule;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Bad stuff doesn&rsquo;t happen here.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">That isn&rsquo;t true in places that are near.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</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&rsquo;s not Easy Street &ndash; it&rsquo;s not safe, and it&rsquo;s not calm.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">I see pain in people&rsquo;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 &ndash;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Guns and anger mixing badly in a fight &ndash;</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;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">There&rsquo;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&rsquo;t blare throughout the night.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">If children scream, it&rsquo;s make-believe &ndash;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Games of tag and hide &amp; 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&rsquo;s coming &lsquo;round.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">And no one&rsquo;s lost his job in my neighborhood;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">No one&rsquo;s mortgage has ever gone unpaid.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">There&rsquo;s money in the pension plans;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">We take vacations &lsquo;cause we can;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Families don&rsquo;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;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Don&rsquo;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&rsquo;re not billionaires; we&rsquo;re very middle class, you understand.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">Please, don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;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&rsquo;t get here without sacrifice,</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">But it&rsquo;s worth the price &ndash;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: small;">My neighborhood.</span></p>