Spit into the center of your hometown
There's leaves in the street
And there are friends around you now
All the days of your life in a line
Or the way they seemed by '89
But it's not alright
It's not even close to alright
Down a hall of your house, down a road in December
(Down, down, down the deep river, down, down, down the deep river)
Down a hall of your house, down a road in December
(Down, down, down the deep river, down, down, down the deep river)
We lie awake at night in a tent
And I say, "Tell me about your uncle and his friend
'Cause they seem like very bad men
Well, we want to keep away from them!"
Bend in the road back there
We saw the place they go
"Tell me about the greatest show
Or the greatest movie you know
Or the greatest song that you taped from off the radio
You gonna play it again and again
It cuts off at the ending, though
Tell me I'm always going to be your best friend
Now, you said it one time, why don't you say it again?
All the way down the line to where the telephone ends
Come on and shout it on down the wire
And it's not alright, not even close to alright"
Down a hall of your house, down a road in December
(Down, down, down the deep river, down, down, down the deep river)
Down a hall of your house, down a road in December
(Down, down, down the deep river, down, down, down the deep river)
And as the rescue party, the volunteer team
Ah, they're just kids of eighteen
And it's the worst thing they've seen
As they're all standing around that tree
And I'm so sorry, and I can't stop crying
Oh, I know
Shivering from the late fall cold
I felt like a solid ghost
I ran, and then I couldn't slow
My father found me though
My father took me home
He said, "Oh, son, I saw you get knocked down and I ran out
I bet your head was spinning
With that bright pain you're stunned
When you've only just begun to be only just beginning
Tossed in the viper pit
All those feelings and fears
And all the difficult shit in all those tender years
There was something in the air
Something gathered in the air
Something singing in the wind
Oh, I'll be your fighter and you'll be my mirror
And you'll be all right because I'll be right here
Oh, kid, now I'm not going anywhere
I swear I'll try to not be going anywhere
Though it's not alright
It's so far from all right
We'll make it into a choice somehow
I don't know, but you'll have a choice somehow.
"Down a hall in your house, down a road in December
(Down, down, down the deep river, down, down, down the deep river)
We can never go back; we can only remember
(Down, down, down the deep river, down, down, down the deep river)
"Maybe they told you about the summer sky
And maybe they said there's a great gold spirit in the summer sky
All your friends
All your best, best friends
Are going to gather around your bed at night
Well that don't make it alright
Because it is still so far from alright
Oh, kid, I know"
Down a hall in your house, down a road in December
Up the stairs, four flights up, can you feel my heart shiver?
Walking in the dawn, with that dream getting dimmer and dimmer
I said, are we going down, are we going down, are we going down the deep river
Oh, down the deep river
Down, down, down, down, down the deep river, down, down the deep river
Why don't you, why don't you, oh, say you still see it
Say, say you remember
Are we going down, are we going down, are we going down, are we going down, are we going down
Hey, hey, hey
Are we going down, are we going down, are we going down, are we going down, down, down the deep river
I know it's scary, baby