Intro To 'Youngstown'

This is a song about how
How quick we are to still have abandoned our own, you know?
Um, I was just about finished with songs for most of the Tom Jones record
And I was stayin' up at night and had a little insomnia
And I went-, went downstairs into my living room
And pulled a book off the shelf
It was a book called Journey to Nowhere, and uh
Text by a fella named Dale Maharidge
And photos by fella named Michael Williamson

What they did was they
They travelled across the country in the mid '80s by train
Uh, hoppin' box cars and all the way across into California
And up in Oregon and Minnesota, chronicling
What they were seein' happening out there at the time, you know
As we were kind of all sitting home and
Hearing about mourning in America

I was hearin' from a lot of folks that I was seein'
People who worked in different food banks and they report in the book that
That there were more people comin' in that needed their services than ever before
That there were people comin' in who'd never been in before
There were people that previously, you know, held-, held good jobs
Had supported their families

And, and uh, all I, you know, I finished the book in one night
And I put it, put it down, and I remember thinkin', well
Well, I'm a guy, like, I know, I know one thing
I know how to do one thing and what would happen if
You do-, you've done something for 30 years
And something that's built-, built the buildings that we live in
Built the-, built the bridges that we cross
People who've given their sons to die in wars for this country
Who end up thrown out like yesterday's newspapers

So, you know, what would I say to my kids if I came home one night
And I couldn't feed them or I couldn't
If they were hurt, and I couldn't help them
Or I couldn't make them safe, ensure their health, you know
I don't know
It strikes to such a central part of who you are