G  Em  C  C
Am C/G Em Em

[Verse 1]
   G             Em                 C    C
I grew up on the Indiana side of Chicago
         Am                 C/G                     Em   Em
With the rusty steel mills belching in the westward wind
          G           Em                    C         C
I watched Mom and Dad trying to clean their sorrows
        Am                 C/G           Em  Em
With my brothers and me at old Lake Michigan

[Chorus]
                 D
There's a little boy
                   Em
He's got big brown eyes
                  D
He's got swimming trunks
                A
‘bout twice his size
                        D
Yeah he's looking at a steel mill sunset
           Em
Skipping a stone,
          C            C/E     Am      G  D
"Hey boy,  ain't you a little young to   feel so alone?"

[Verse 2]
           G                  Em                  C
Well they changed the name of my hometown when we moved away
          Am                 C/G              Em
Now it's more than words that I don't recognize
     D/F#            G                       Em             C
That kid down at the filling station tried to keep my change from a twenty
        Am               C/G           Em
I could see that cold assurance in his eyes

[Verse 3]
                 D                     Em
Hey you need ten dollars for the rainy day?
                     D                    A
Yeah save and go to college or just get away get away get away
             C          D                  Em
Or you could spend that money on a two-day stone
    C         C/E          Am       G         D
Oh, there are worse things in this world than   being alone let me tell you now...

[Solo]
Am  Em  Am  Em
Am  Em  C   D
Am  Em  Am  Em
Am  Em  C   Bm

[Verse 4]
              G            Em               C
So, if you're driving from Chicago, east of Gary
        Am            C/G               Em
And you find a fallen town that has two names
         G            Em             C
There'll be no one to possibly remember
  Am                         C/G             Em
A little lonesome brown-eyed boy who went by James

[Chorus]
                   D
Oh the mill's shut down
                    Em
But the air's still sour
                D
You get a hotel room
                     A
You gotta pay by the hour
                D
Oh the good old days
                     Em
They're just good and gone
             C     C/E   Am      G        D
Like autumn leaves          on a burning lawn

[Outro]
       G       D/F#   Em      D           C
Yeah I grew up on the Indiana side of Chicago
          Am                                        Em
With the rusty steel mills belching in the westward wind