Chicken wire floats in the big parade Marching bands and the prom queen's wave From an old home movie fading with time Alabama 1959 Daddy had hair, mom was thin Look at the silly clothes they wore back then Studebaker truck parked in the drive Alabama 1959 Men wore hats and called you son Children said "Yes sir, yes mam" ladies called you "hun" And the days just blew away like dandelions In Alabama 1959 TVA strung power lines Lit up our world with Pepsodent and Lucky Strikes And the TVs rolled in black and white Alabama 1959 Football games beneath the lights No one ever dared to cross the color line Black faces watched through the fence outside Alabama 1959 Don't use that word my mother said It isn't Christian, call them colored folks instead So I learned to be polite In Alabama 1959 These old home movies, well they make me cry Still I bring them out and watch sometimes And all those ghosts come back alive Alabama 1959