Lyrics to
Dream Killing Town

This version of Dream Killing Town was released by John Cougar Mellencamp in 1976.

Our About John Cougar Mellencamp page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Dream Killing Town from 1976 as well as all of the other lyrics from John Cougar Mellencamp that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to John Cougar Mellencamp or about the 1970s in general.

Pre-war matador
Save your broken bones
Golden rule, he’s such a fool
In the streets alone
Slow burn, taciturn
Nothing left to say
Column five, sympathize
It’s easier that way

Just want to be a big boy
Pushin’ some Jim-jims around
But it’s hard to be a dreamer
In a dream killing town
Hard to be a dreamer
In a dream killing town

Good as dead, Sally said
I fear what she knows
Money spent, for reconnaissance
And blood’s upon her clothes
Child’s toy, soldier boy
Playing with his gun
Uptown, missile clown
Living on the run

He just want to be a big boy
Growing up too soon
Show you his gun
Flash his knife in the sun
And dance to a rock and roll tune

Once tried, twice denied
Sally said she knew
Full sized polarized
Is what she’s looking through
Switch blade, promenade
Leather jacket war
Cliche, don’t runaway
Slipping out the back door

All night parasite
Wake me up at noon
Copped himself an attitude
Down at the Red Dog Saloon
Quick laid, masquerade
Gets the young boy up tight
Low rent, Jack-a-Lent
Says he’s gonna be all right

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Want more lyrics and songs by John Cougar Mellencamp?

John Cougar Mellencamp has released many songs over the years besides Dream Killing Town. 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 1970s music looking for more songs from 1976 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Dream Killing Town by John Cougar Mellencamp

The lyrics to Dream Killing Town are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that John Cougar Mellencamp used when the song was created in 1976. The lyrics to Dream Killing Town have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only John Cougar Mellencamp and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Dream Killing Town by John Cougar Mellencamp. 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 Dream Killing Town" means the words set to the music of Dream Killing Town, 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 Dream Killing Town and the lyrics to Dream Killing Town 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 Dream Killing Town, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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