by T.C Leonard

Created on: April 28, 2008

"Paradise on the Banks of the Monongahela"

Oh...Morgantown, West Virginia
Was the place that I called home
I left there back in '94
Though I thought I'd never roam
I would have never left there
If it were in my power
But I found myself a college grad
Makin' seven bucks an hour

Along the Monongahela River
That the locals call "The Mon"
I used to watch coal barges
Until all them jobs were gone

Two college degree later
I was really quite bereft
That's when I shouted "&*^% this place!"
And BY GAWD that's when I left

It sits on a rounded hillside
Shaped like a toilet bowl
And the sewer pipe known as Deckers Creek
Is where the crap did roll
I learned to hate ol' Morgantown
'til I found a place much worse
But I'll get to that in due time
In a later verse

Chorus...
Oh Morgantown, Oh Morgantown
I wish I'd never gone
I sold my soul for a better job
And I miss fishin' on The Mon
The place I moved to long ago
Is a real friggin' bore
There are drugs and murders everywhere
And roaches on the floor

So I sing in praise of Morgantown
With my hand upon my heart
I think about where I live now
And it makes me want to fart
I think of the dumb stuff I've done
And I say, "What the heck
You left Mountaineer paradise
For a bigger darned paycheck!"

Hindsight is 20/20
But foresight, she is blind
I miss my Skoal
And fishin' hole
And I'm really in a bind
'cause I live in the metroplex
And don't believe Hank Junior's jive
In the hellhole I'm in now
A country boy CAN'T survive!

Fourteen years 'til I retire
Then here's what I have in store
Maryland in my rearview mirror
And NO MORE Baltimore!
'cause when I hand in my walkin' papers
I'll head for a higher ground
This native West Virginian
Will return to Morgantown!

Chorus...variation
Oh Morgantown, oh Morgantown
Why did I ever leave
I thought there was a better life
Man, how I was deceived
Now to get back to my hometown
Is the path I seek
They've cleaned up the Wharf District
And there's fish in Deckers Creek

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