Lyrics to
Chestnut Street Revisited

This version of Chestnut Street Revisited was released by John Cougar Mellencamp in 1976.

Our John Cougar Mellencamp Songs profile has Chestnut Street Revisited lyrics from 1976 and most if not all of the lyrics by John Cougar Mellencamp that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

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Well I’ve lived and breathed and been disbelieved
In these small town streets too long
I’ve held nothin’ but aces and been many places
And hung on the corner ’til dawn
But my hands have been tied
To a life I’ve been denied
I’m just a small town boy bein’ used like a toy
And workin’ a nine to five

Well I worked like a fool ’til after done with high school
Just to form a rock and rollin’ band
But the streets were exploding and my life I was decoding
Had a dream I couldn’t understand
And I work it out everyday
For no fun and very little pay
I’m just a smal town boy bein’ used like a toy
And doin’ what other people say

Well I’ve drooled and fooled and been ridiculed
For havin’ dreams just above my reach
And I’ve lied and died and tried suicide
For all the things you people wanna preach
But I always had to turn the other way
When I heard those homefolks say
(They say) You’re just a small town boy bein’ used like a toy
And livin’ on a day to day

But you must believe that when I walk down the tracks
All those young girls fall back and say
There goes that sleek young silhouette
He don’t drive no Corvette
But he stings just like a Sting Ray
And that’s my only redemption in this house of detention
That keeps me from simply blowin’ it all away
‘Cause when I walk down the street in the hot summer heat
I say, God don’t take this away

Well by the end of the day, all the kids would go play
And I’d come staggering back home
With a dream in my hand and a master plan
That wouldn’t leave my mind alone
Well I compromised all my schemes
And I fluctuated all my dreams
I’m just a small town boy bein’ used like a toy
And nothing is like it really seems

But what a fool I must seem to have all these dreams
And try to live them all through
It’s like a slap in your face, with a mercurochrome taste
When the dream is long overdue
And it seems kinda strange that nobody came
To the game that I have put myself through
And when I walk down the street in the hot summer heat
I say, what the hell can I do

Well I keep hopin’ and wishin’ that these romantic positions
Gonna help me hide all this pain
And all the hurt that I’ve felt underneath my leather studded belt
Of not findin’ my fortune and fame
Some day I’ll blow ’em away with the things that I sing and I say
I’m just a small town boy bein’ used like a toy
And waitin’ on my pay day

I’m just a small town boy bein’ used like a toy
And waitin’ on my pay day

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John Cougar Mellencamp has released many songs over the years besides Chestnut Street Revisited. John Cougar Mellencamp released songs from 1976 to 2007 spanning across albums like Chestnut Street Incident, A Biography, John Cougar, Nothin' Matters And What If It Did, American Fool, The Kid Inside, Uh-Huh, Scarecrow, The Lonesome Jubilee, Big Daddy, Whenever We Wanted, Human Wheels, Dance Naked, Mr. Happy Go Lucky, John Mellencamp, Rough Harvest, Cuttin' Heads, Trouble No More, and Freedom's Road. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by John Cougar Mellencamp.

If you're a fan of the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1976 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Chestnut Street Revisited by John Cougar Mellencamp

The lyrics for Chestnut Street Revisited are defined as the words making up the song released by John Cougar Mellencamp in 1976. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to Chestnut Street Revisited have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only John Cougar Mellencamp and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to Chestnut Street Revisited by John Cougar Mellencamp if you think through it. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Chestnut Street Revisited" means the words set to the music of Chestnut Street Revisited, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by John Cougar Mellencamp. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Chestnut Street Revisited and the lyrics to Chestnut Street Revisited are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of John Cougar Mellencamp who came here looking just for the lyrics to Chestnut Street Revisited, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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