Cuyahoga River

Back before 1955

If you made it out of Harlan alive

You took 23 to 30

Traded a coal dark mine for

Henry Ford's assembly line

But the air is still dirty

The Cuyahoga River's burning

And the lakes are panoposin'

Seven acres and a mine, sugar

A suburban home with union dues

But still somebody owns you

They shipped your job off to Japan and

Kentucky's got a Toyota plant

Akron ain't the rubber capital no more

There's hillbillies from Brunswick to Richmond

And Lake Erie's open for fishin'

And they made a villain out of old Henry Ford

The Cuyahoga River's burning

And the lakes are panoposin'

Seven acres and a mine, sugar

A suburban home with union dues

But still somebody owns you

Back before 1955

If you made it out of Harlan alive

You took 23 to 30