The Innocent Years

I need to go down and wash my face
Deep in the river of my old homeplace
I need to walk in the waters that once gave me life

Go over and walk the old railroad tracks
See if I can follow it all the way back
Back to where my vision is clear
Back to the days of the innocent years

You know I'd trade it all back in
For just one day like it was back then
Back before just living my life got in the way

To see my face at sixteen again

When the girl down the street was my best friend
When her smile took away my fears
Back in the days of the innocent years.

You might grow wiser every day
But there's a price you have to pay
The boy I was just disappeared
I left him behind in the innocent years

Now and then when the sun goes down
I can see the moon over my hometown

I can almost hear the train rushing by

I close my eyes and say a prayer
To the wide-eyed boy that I lost somewhere

Maybe someday he'll find me here
And lead me back to the innocent years

When I get lost along the way
And I can't see the light of day
I can almost feel him near

Calling me back to the innocent years
The innocent years.

Lyrics by Kathy Mattea
Revised by the Camera Totin' Idiot