Independence Day (Live at The Roxy, West Hollywood, CA - 7/7/1978)

I wrote this song a long time ago

And I dedicate it to my father, he's always

I tease him a whole lot and he was always telling me

That, "You should do, you should be better than me whatever you do", you know

And this is for him

This is called "Independence Day"

Well, Papa, go to bed now, it's getting late

Ain't no talking gonna change anything now

I'll be leaving in the morning from St. Mary's Gate

We wouldn't change this thing even if we could somehow

'Cause the darkness of this house has got the best of us

And there's a darkness in this town that's got us too

But they can't touch me now and you can't touch me now

They ain't gonna do to me what I watched them do to you

So say goodbye, it's Independence Day

It's Independence Day, all the boys must run away

Oh, say goodbye, it's Independence Day

All men must go their way come Independence Day

Well, Papa, I don't know what it always was with us

We chose the words and, yeah, we drew the lines

This house know how could it hold the two of us

I guess that we were just too much of the same kind

So say goodbye, it's Independence Day

All the boys must run away come Independence Day

Oh, say goodbye, it's Independence Day

All men must make their way come Independence Day

Well, now the rooms are all empty down at Frankie's joint

And the highway is deserted, clear down to Breaker's Point

Lot of people leaving town, leaving their friends, their homes

At night, they walk that dark and dusty highway all alone

So, Papa go to bed now, it's getting late

Nothing we can say is gonna change anything now

Because there's different people coming down here now, and they see things in different ways

And soon everything we've known will just be swept away

So say goodbye, it's Independence Day

Papa, now I know the things you wanted that you could not say

Say goodbye, it's Independence Day

I swear I never meant to take those things away