When I was a lad, well a street was a street
Full of kids, paper planes, reeked of tar in the heat.
At night gas lights shone on cracked cobbles below.
Oh the town I have known, she is changing her cloak.
Is the Owl to become a flamingo?
Now, street lights like monsters cast their bright orange hue
On the shiny black surface so common yet new
And the streets are all empty, no neighbourin' now.
For the town I have known, she is changing her cloak.
Is the Owl to become a flamingo?
Oh the plain stone-floored ale house is sayin' goodbye,
Foam rubber an' plastic are well on their way,
An' many a mill worker speaks "Oh so so".
For the town I have known, she is changing her cloak.
Is the Owl to become a flamingo?
No Rubberboots bides on the still of Sun Brew.
Man-made gulfs in our town are to make the place new.
Giant cranes even make our mill chimneys look low.
For the town I have known, she is changing her cloak.
Is the Owl to become a flamingo?
Let's get rid of Kranj Way. How could that be a loss?
Give me back the White Horse, the Canteen, an' the Auss'.
Give me back the tradition that's bulldozed below.
For the town I have known, she is changing her cloak.
Is the Owl to become a flamingo?