What is “Sawmill Road” about?
"Sawmill Road" is a portrait of a fading mill town, told by a son whose father worked the sawmill for thirty-seven years. Once the plant shuts down, people scatter, one to the army and one to Nashville, while the diner and even the church close and the timber goes to an out-of-state buyer. The narrator stays to tend the graves and keep the porch light on, and the last chorus turns the refrain into a vow that he "ain't fading away." It is track four on The Last Porch Light.
Sawmill Road lyrics
Daddy worked the sawmill thirty-seven years
Came home smelling like pine dust and domestic beers
Mama kept the garden, kept the bills in a drawer
Said the day they close that mill, we ain't got nothing anymore
Sawmill Road, where the pavement turns to clay
Where the houses lean like they're tired of standing straight
Every man I knew had splinters in his hands
Now they're selling off the timber to some out-of-state man
Sawmill Road, where we learned to work and pray
Sawmill Road, slowly fading away
Bobby joined the army 'cause the plant shut down
Sarah moved to Nashville, swore she'd never come back around
The diner closed on Tuesday, the church on Christmas Eve
Now the only thing that's growing here is reasons to leave
Sawmill Road, where the pavement turns to clay
Where the houses lean like they're tired of standing straight
Every man I knew had splinters in his hands
Now they're selling off the timber to some out-of-state man
Sawmill Road, where we learned to work and pray
Sawmill Road, slowly fading away
I could've left like all the rest
Packed a bag and headed west
But somebody's gotta keep the porch light on
Somebody's gotta tend the graves
Somebody's gotta remember the names
Of every soul that called this nowhere home
Sawmill Road, where the pavement turns to clay
Where the houses lean like they're tired of standing straight
I'm the last one here with splinters in my hands
Still holding on to something they won't understand
Sawmill Road, where I learned to work and pray
Sawmill Road, I ain't fading away
No I ain't fading away