American Nights

He was eighteen and wasted

Bedroom in the basement

Parents' house, Tucson, Arizona

What do expect from a high school diploma?

Working hours in the shoe store

Selling dimes out the back door

And he puts on his prom crown

Says to his Mama, "I'm the king of this town"

Won't you take me out?

I hear the midnight streets a-calling

You can hold me down

But like a bird I'm just free falling

Here's to these American nights

We're having the time of our lives

Living, dreaming, feeling, never sleeping

Till we see the morning light

On these American nights (Hey)

Neighborhood kid, just back from the desert

Tattoo and a discharge letter

VA in the Saint John

Six times a week he still sleeps with his boots on

She skipped track up to Brooklyn

With a dream and some tanned skin

Graveyard at The Rhino

This is the place where the stars shine, y'know?

Won't you take me out?

I hear the midnight streets a-calling

You can hold me down

But like a bird I'm just free falling

Here's to these American nights

We're having the time of our lives

Living, dreaming, feeling, never sleeping

Till we see the morning light

On these American nights

The sky's black in November

And nothing good lasts forever

Twelve-gauge heart in a machine-gun town

Whole life running, ya can't stop now

Here's to these American nights

We're having the time of our lives

Living on a feeling, got a feeling

That it's gonna be alright

On these American nights

On these American nights