Intro: C/G - F/C(open 1st string)                             

 C/G
They used to come to town from the Naval base
            F/C
Looking for a stiff drink and a pretty face
 C/G                         F/C 
Hang around the whore houses all night long
 C/G 
Well some were drifters and some were bums
 F/C
Some just waited for the war to come 
 C/G             Am            F/C                  G
Out behind the factory with a bottle and a factory girl
          C/G              F/C           C/G               F/C
In that small town on the river, just a small town on the river

 C/G                                      F/C
Well that December war broke out, many a woman lost her man
 C/G                                            F/C
Some wrote from overseas, some didn’t and their women didn’t understand
         C/G                                        F/C           
And the whores left for the harbor towns where the business was still good
         C/G                   Am                      F/C               G
And the factory girls put in double shifts, worked as much time as they could

         C/G               F/C           C/G               F/C
In that small town on the river, just a small town on the river

 C/G                           F/C
Well some men came home aces, some were carried home
 C/G                        F/C 
All of them were heroes, no man was left alone
 C/G                                       F/C
Some took jobs, some went to school, some found they’d fathered kids
 C/G                      Am               F/C              G                
Some men tried, but could not forget, some wound up on the skids
         C/G               F/C           C/G               F/C  
In that small town on the river, just a small town on the river


 C/G                        F/C
Well forty years later the town remains the same 
    C/G                
One mill burnt down, another one was built 
       F/C
The paychecks now come from a different name 
 C/G                                     F/C
And at the Eagles and the Legion halls, no one seems to age 
          C/G                    Am               F/C                 G       
With the same jokes told and the TV on; the paper open to the sports page 
         C/G               F/C           C/G               F/C 
In that small town on the river, just a small town on the river

      C/G                              F/C 
And I was talking with the bartender last night at the PAC
 C/G                                  F/C
A Navy man from World War II, sharp dresser though he don’t have to be
   C/G                                   F/C 
And over a double bourbon, he said “I’ll tell ya man to man”
            C/G             Am              F/C               G
“Well this town died forty years ago, son; get out while you can”
             C/G               F/C                        C/G               F/C
It’s just a small town on the river, we’re nothing but a small town on the river
                    C/G                F/C     G   C/G   
We’re nothing but a small town on the river