Landmark

Lyrics

[Verse 1] It was not such a small town In the antebellum north Built on the factory sounds Before that war Time-clock faith in material The tractors and contractors of wealth Where they called the juleps Manhattans And prejudice was called the help [Chorus] Who would believe naively That these things are perpetual? All of it's gone to hell Perhaps it's just as well [Verse 2] Lost in the miniature teacups The umbrella-shielded sun Listening to thе piano boom Napoleon's gathering guns As I lay quietly quiltеd On that screened-in porch I knew Listening to the cicadas sing Not knowing they were doomed [Chorus] Who would believe naively That these things are perpetual? All of it's gone to hell Perhaps it's just as well [Verse 3] On the lawn they sipped their cocktails Diversions of fair play And talked of factories closing While arguing grass or clay With the elm trees slowly dying On the stately avenues The evening silence shattered When the factory whistle blew [Chorus] Who would believe naively That these things are perpetual? All of it's gone to hell Perhaps it's just as well [Guitar Solo] [Verse 4] But the bicycles got bigger And the circles, they grew small And the frantic voices beckoned Somewhere beyond the wall The seventeen-year locusts Were leaving behind their shells When the ice-cream truck bell Tolled the garden to hell [Chorus] Who would believe naively That these things are perpetual? All of it's gone to hell Perhaps it's just as well All of it's gone to hell Perhaps it's just as well