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Credits
PERFORMING ARTISTS
Billy Joel
Vocals
Liberty De Vitto
Drums
Doug Stegmeyer
Bass Guitar
Russell Javors
Acoustic Rhythm Guitar
David Brown
Lead Electric Guitar
COMPOSITION & LYRICS
Billy Joel
Songwriter
PRODUCTION & ENGINEERING
Phil Ramone
Producer
Jim Boyer
Mixing Engineer
Andy Hoffman
Assistant Engineer
Bradshaw Leigh
Additional Engineer
Larry Franke
Assistant Engineer
Michael Christopher
Assistant Engineer
Ted Jensen
Mastering Engineer
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Well, we're living here in Allentown
And they're closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they're killing time
Filling out forms, standing in line
[Verse 2]
Well, our fathers fought the Second World War
Spent their weekends on the Jersey Shore
Met our mothers in the USO
Asked them to dance, danced with them slow
[Chorus]
And we're living here in Allentown
But the restlessness was handed down
And it's getting very hard to stay
Hey
Oh, oh
[Verse 3]
Well, we're waiting here in Allentown
For the Pennsylvania we never found
For the promises our teachers gave
If we worked hard, if we behaved
[Verse 4]
So the graduations hang on the wall
But they never really helped us at all
No, they never taught us what was real
Iron and coke, chromium steel
[Chorus]
And we're waiting here in Allentown
But they've taken all the coal from the ground
And the union people crawled away
Hey
[Bridge]
Every child had a pretty good shot
To get at least as far as their old man got
But something happened on the way to that place
They threw an American flag in our face
Oh, oh
[Chorus]
Well, I'm living here in Allentown
And it's hard to keep a good man down
But I won't be getting up today
Hey
Hey
Oh, oh
[Outro]
And it's getting very hard to stay
And we're living here in Allentown
Written by: William Martin Joel