Can't Go Home Again

Time and time again
I tried to get back
To my home town
On my mind again
I'm on my way back
Take a look around
The places I remember
Where my pictures come undone
Such a long way back
And this boy's lost track
Of the place where he was young
And I'm back on the street where I used to live
And I passed an old friend who was holding his kid
And I swear I can almost hear momma call my name
And I'm back on the river where I was Huck Finn
Just Charlie McLaughlin
He always played Jim
Now I know why they say
You just can't go home again
Yes, I know why they say
You just can't go home again
My friends and I could talk the night away
About where we were going
Laying out our lives
We had no way of ever knowing
The plans we made keep changing
And people they just do the same
It's a long way back
And we all lose track
Of the faces and the names
And I stop for an ice cream
At the corner drug store
A double-deck cone ain't a dime anymore
Have things really changed so much
Or is it just me
And I asked about Tom
He ran the picture show
And somebody said he died years ago
Now I know why they say
You just can't go home again
Yes, I know why they say
You just can't go home again
Such a long way back
And this boy's lost track
Of the places and their names
And I spoke to the bum
As he sat on the ground
That crazy old man
He's still toasting the town
For the first time in my life I understood
How the wine that had taken his worries and cares
Had also taken the love he once shared
Then he cried as he said
I just can't go home again
Now I know why they say
You just can't go home again
Yes, I know why they say
You just can't go home again