I've had some vision of this song for about 20 years now, ever since Dennise and I realized our common linkeage to my childhood neighborhood.
Something about our fraught, divided, time now helped the tumblers click into place. Wrote the whole thing on the way back from the lake last night...got this Demo down this afternoon.
It's a song with a message for today, and an absolutely true story about our yesterday....
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On the streets of old Preston Hollow
In that sweaty Summer air
I’d play fungo ’till the Sun went down
A boy without a care.
Gulpin every Slurpee I could swallow
I’d trade my baseball cards
In the shade of the Mimosa trees
And St. Augustine yards.
And did you see…
Me as I was back then
Long before we…
Walked our common road?
———
Now, we are family
Here on this big blue ball
We found some way to find each other,
through it all.
For, on the streets of old Preston Hollow
That-same sweaty, Summer air
You helped your Dad mow rich folk’s lawns
With all his many cares
Gulpin every Slurpee you could swallow
And a hotlink for a buck
Conjunto on the radio
In that, bumpy, rusted truck
And did I see…
You as you were back then
Long before we…
Walked our common road?
———
Now, we are family
Here on this big blue ball
We found some way to find each other,
through it all.
(Break)
In case it isn’t clear, this is the story of our life.
I’m the clueless little White boy, she’s my tough Latina wife.
But these days, as we look back, at all our road behind.
Is that path we got to travel then, one lovers still can find?
Cause now, the streets of old Preston Hollow
They’re all that still remains
The ranch style homes have been knocked down
The mailbox names all changed.
And it’s such a hard pill to swallow
That behind those McMansion gates
Some fear the ones who mow those lawns
No one sees our common fate…
Can we still still see…
Each other as a friend
And can we…
Still walk some common road?
———
For, we are family
Here on this tiny ball
Could we still find some way to find each other,
through it all?
Like started on the streets of Preston Hollow…
On the streets Old Preston Hollow…
Words and Music: Eric Folkerth
All Rights Reserved.