You were quaint
remember when you were quaint?
with your old buildings still standing
some streets not even paved
before developers saw opportunity and all of their contractors came
do you remember when you were a small town with green fields at all your outskirts?
when you were a step down from a city not yet joined with all the villages on the outskirts
do you remember this?
maybe it's hard for you
your memory did wane a bit
when all the living heart in you
did fade and dim
and parts of you
were lost
like all the mom and pop shops
that got replaced with one stops
so now there is a big box
for all the things you need
and it's cheap, but it's not free
and it's not appealing
not to me at least
i guess it makes it easy for some of the tourists
familiar scenery
but i want more than this
i want you to keep your heritage
old mortar holding old bricks
green spaces played in by bold kids
i want your little stores to stay open
'cause if they close their doors then some of my hope goes with them
you say you're just adapting to change
i know you have to do that but what repercussions will you face
all your young ones up and moved away
your artists try to stick around but they can't stay
they watch the downtown core being abandoned
charming old buildings for uptown stores, suburban planning
and they see no muses here and this, for you, is damaging
'cause if all the artists leave then the town weeps subtle tears
and the councillors pretend they don't see you crying but we all can hear
i remember when you were quaint and i don't want to forget that
perhaps i should file some kind of complaint but i don't know who would get that
i was one of those young ones who up and moved away
but i can't really say
i regret that
but, i do want some people to stay
- i want you to charm them
show your heart to them
stay quaint
like, when you were a small town, some streets not yet paved
some small stores with doors open
and a heart still holding
the good old days
when you were a step down from a city no suburban living
