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Song Parodies -> "In The Valley"
Original Song Title:
"In The Ghetto"
(MP3)Original Performer:
Elvis Presley
Parody Song Title:
"In The Valley"
Parody Written by:
Airfarcewon
The Lyrics
Youngstown, Ohio is located in the Mahoning Valley, and like nearby Pittsburgh, Pa., was once one of the largest steel making cities in the U.S. On Sept. 19th, 1977, now known as Black Monday, all that changed with the announcement by officials of the closing of The Youngstown Sheet And Tube works in the suberb of Campbell, Ohio. Soon after, others, like The Briar Hill Works followed suit. Today, all that remains of Youngstown's once Giant black steel skyline is coal dust, rust, and rubble. Ironically, Elvis died the same year. As an after thought, Billy Joel, later wrote and recorded a song, entitled, "Youngstown" as a memorial to the fall of the steel era.
As the town cries
On a cold and gray Ohio morn
Headline from the local news brings scorn
In the valley
And the spirit dies
Death comes to Youngstown on Black Monday
When the steel industry fades away
In the valley
People weep upon the land
Where men had forged steel by hand
Hard daily toil and union demands for pay
Where for seventy long years
They had shed sweat and tears
Where they'd built new homes, raised kids,
And planned to always stay..
Destiny turns
And a blast furnace falls - with a crashin' sound
Their hopes and dreams - all come tumblin' down
In the valley
As the mem'ry burns
Fam'lies torn apart - men steal at night
Life they've known so long
Makes a sharp hard right
In the valley
They were days of desperation
Their world was swept away
The jobs were gone - lost their car
Life went on - but it can't go far
When the future dies
Unemployed stand in lines - at food give-aways
Hearts break on the street - through the sad lonely days
In the valley
Thirty five years flies,
On a Two Thousand Twelve Ohio morn
The people survive and new babies are born
In the valley
In the valley
On a cold and gray Ohio morn
Headline from the local news brings scorn
In the valley
And the spirit dies
Death comes to Youngstown on Black Monday
When the steel industry fades away
In the valley
People weep upon the land
Where men had forged steel by hand
Hard daily toil and union demands for pay
Where for seventy long years
They had shed sweat and tears
Where they'd built new homes, raised kids,
And planned to always stay..
Destiny turns
And a blast furnace falls - with a crashin' sound
Their hopes and dreams - all come tumblin' down
In the valley
As the mem'ry burns
Fam'lies torn apart - men steal at night
Life they've known so long
Makes a sharp hard right
In the valley
They were days of desperation
Their world was swept away
The jobs were gone - lost their car
Life went on - but it can't go far
When the future dies
Unemployed stand in lines - at food give-aways
Hearts break on the street - through the sad lonely days
In the valley
Thirty five years flies,
On a Two Thousand Twelve Ohio morn
The people survive and new babies are born
In the valley
In the valley
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User Comments
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This song really hurt me. Being myself operation's engineer's daughter in a similar industrial town and knowing it all too well, this song is a testimony of the agony of those towns. In my case, the end was happy - hightech saved my hometown and instead of steeltown, it is now silicon town, but the end hasn't been as happy everywhere. Fives.
To be exact, "Youngstown" is Bruce Springsteen song. Billy Joel recorded "Allentown". I have made Finnish lyrics for "Youngstown".
Love it. The timber industry took my town, high tech, beer and wine are starting to bring it back. 5s.
Thanks, Susanna...you're right, I always get those guys mixed up...it was Springsteen...and thanks, Anondria
A well-written account AFW-555! There are lots of towns like that in Cali and I've been reading a lot about places I never knew or have been to. Most of Cali is in deep recession and unemployment. It's a shame when small towns that had one industry collapse creating modern "Ghost Towns". I feel bad for the people and my newspaper's photos look like Depression-era ones (the hopelessness and despair of the people). Right now there is Anti-homeless sentiment in Sacramento and a drive to just arrest large numbers of people w/o "safe ground" while a vast piece of railyard property sits idle. Why is it that most city solutions to the homeless problem is usually just to move them to another zipcode, to become someone else's territorial, healthcare, and funding problem???
Sad, sad story AFW. Similar scenario happened here in the UK when Demoness Thatcher *spit* closed all the coal mines - huge chunks of Wales and the North of England became unemployment blackspots practically overnight. We buy all our coal from China now - how dumb is that, when there's tons of it still sitting underneath us here in the UK? Anyway, for a beautifully worded parody, it's a 555.
Saw a trailer the other day for a TV (cable) show about scavengers who pick through old factory buildings looking for valuable artifacts they can sell as antiques. For a week I have been trying to pay my credit card bill at the store which issued it. The check processing machine is shredding the paper and almost took a finger off the girl who was operating it. 20 years ago the company would have flown in someone to fix it that day, or replaced the machine with a new one and pitched the old one in the junk heap. What has gone wrong that a major, successful corporation can't or won't fix something that important? Went to a convenience store in the "bad" part of town. Heard a fellow ask for two (brand name of cigarette). Thought I would see two packs come up. The clerk handed him two individual cigarettes. Never saw them sold that way before, though I heard about such during the 1930's. On the way into town I passed a well-known restaurant, noted for the huge flag it used to fly. Now it is boarded up with a For Sale sign. Things are bad and getting worse.
Thanks, Rob...and thanks, Wendy...yes, many regions in many countries have had their economic problems..
Thanks to Patrick
AFW - I was just in Youngstown a few weeks ago and Campbell also. They don't look too bad. I can really relate however - I miss the 60s and the peak of the industrial revolution. My town (Akron) is filled with vacant, boarded up home, and many more vacant lots where houses used to stand. So sad - we are losing our history. Summa Health Care is now our biggest employer, and they encroach on other old neighborhoods and tear them up to build their ugly parking decks. On a happier note however, the wildlife is making quite a comeback. I often see deer just a couple blocks from downtown.
Not funny of course, but really inspiring and atmospheric. The mood fits perfectly. 555s
Thanks, Meri, I remember now..you said you lived in Akron..Ygstn, is surviving, but still has many vacant homes, excessive drugs and crime, and much unemployment...and thanks, LL
Touching and true, AFW. We have the same here (lesser scale) and Merry has many times lamented at the decline of Akron. On a lighter note, your comment "I always get those guys mixed up" gave a me a laugh :)
Thanks, Pere...But don't they kinda' have similar styles and seem like they're cut from the same mold
Welcome ! Yes, i guess so, they certainly assume the role of urban story-teller. I was more chuckling at the thought of them LOOKING similar :)
Wendy, gives an all new meaning for the phrase "carrying coal to Newcastle" :-(
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