The Innocent Years - Kathy Mattea

I need to go down and wash my face

Deep in the river of my old homeplace

I need to walk in the waters that once gave me life

Go over and walk the old railroad tracks

See if I can follow it all the way back

Back to where my vision is clear

Back to the days of the innocent years

You know I’d trade it all back in

For just one day like it was back then

Back before just living my life got in the way

To see my face at sixteen again

When the boy down the street was my best friend

When his smile took away my tears

Back in the days of the innocent years

You might grow wiser every day

But there’s a price you have to pay

The girl I was just disappeared

I left her behind in the innocent years

Now and then when the sun goes down

I can see the moon over my hometown

I can almost hear the train rushing by

I close my eyes and I say a prayer

To the wide-eyed girl that I lost somewhere

Maybe someday she’ll find me here

And lead me back to the innocent years

You might grow wiser every day

But there’s a price you have to pay

The girl I was just disappeared

I left her behind in the innocent years

When I get lost along the way

And I can’t see the light of day

I can almost feel her near

Calling me back to the innocent years

The innocent years