It was the town that made America famous
The churches full and the kids all gone to hell
Six traffic lights and seven cops and all the streets kept clean
The supermarket and the drug store and the bars all doing well

They were the folks that made America famous
The local fire department stocked with shorthaired volunteers
And on Saturday night while America boozes
The fire department showed dirty movies,
The lawyer and the grocer seeing their dreams
Come to life on the movie screens
While the plumber hopes that he won't be seen
As he tries to hide his fears and he wipes away his tears
But something's burning somewhere Does anybody care?

We were the kids that made America famous
The kind of kids that long since drove our parents to dispair
We were lazy long hairs dropping our, lost confused, and copping out
Convinced our futures were in doubt and trying not to care

We lived in the house that made America famous
It was a rundown slum, the shame of all the decent folks in town
We hippies and some welfare cases,
Croweded families of coal black faces,
Cramped inside some cracked old boards,
The best that we all could afford
But still to nice for the rich landlord
To tear it down and we could hear the sound
Of something burning somewhere Is anybody there?

We all lived the life that made America famous
Our cops would make a point to shadow us around our town
And we love children put a swastika on the bright red firehouse door
America, the beautiful, it makes a body proud

And then came the night that made America famous
Was it carelessness or someone's sick idea of a joke
In the tinder box trap that we hippies lived in someone struck a spark
At first I thought I was dreaming,
Then I saw the first flames gleaming
And heard the sound of children screaming
Coming through the smoke That's when the horror broke

Something's burning somewhere Does anybody care?

It was the fire that made America famous
The sirens wailed and the firemen stumbled sleepy from their homes
And the plumber yelled: "Come on let's go!"
But they saw what was burning and said: "Take it slow,
Let'em sweat a little, they'll never know
And besides, we just cleaned the chrome" Said the plumber: "I'm going alone"

He rolled on up in the fire truck
And raised the ladder to the ledge
Where me and my girl and a couple of kids
Were clinging like bats to the edge
We staggered to salvation,
Collapsed on the street
And I never thought that a fat man's face
Would ever look so sweet

I shook his hand in the scene that made America famous
And a smile from the heart that made America great
You see we spent the rest of that night in the home of a man I'd never known
before
It's funny when you get that close it's kind of hard to hate

I went to sleep with the hope that made America famous
I had the kind of a dream that maybe they're still trying to teach in school
Of the America that made America famousand
Of the people who just might understand
That how together yes we can
Create a country better than
The one we have made of this land,
We have a choice to make each man
who dares to dream, reaching out his hand
A prophet or just a crazy God damn
Dreamer of a fool - yes a crazy fool

There's something burning somewhere
Does anybody care?
Is anybody there?