John McCutcheon touched the subject with:

Ghost of the Good Old Days

Song credits:
words & music by John McCutcheon & Si Kahn

Back 'fore I's in long britches
And the train stopped every other day
The coke ovens belched that black smoke
And kids runnin' every which-a-way
My Mama and my Daddy said, "High times a-coming"
And the tipple kept a-spittin' that coal
The circuit ridin' preacher and the missionary teacher
Kept you cipherin' and singin' for your soul

Chorus

Oh, the rattle of the track ain't never comin' back
And the tipple is a-crumblin' in the wind
And this town is a-bleedin' out of every road a-leadin'
Up the river where you never even been
It's the lure of the young, it's the honey on the tongue
And you told 'em in a hundred different ways
But you watch 'em as they're fleein', when they look back all they're seein'
Are the ghosts of the good old days

Well, I got me a wife and I got me a job
And I got me a union card
And I hoed me a patch by the side of the river
So we were ready when the times got hard
We hung three pictures above the old sofa
It was Jesus, FDR, and John L
So we knew how to pray and we knew how to vote
And we knew how to really give 'em hell

Chorus

But the times rolled by and the kids rolled with 'em
And now the dust never settles on the road
And I lie awake at night thinkin' ain't it a sight
How history is a mighty heavy load'
It weren't' the scabs or the dozers or the wind in the winter
Drove young 'uns to the cities by the score
It was the road and the car and the can't stay where you are
And the thirst that makes you always look for more

©1995 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP) & Si Kahn/Joe Hill Music (ASCAP)
Charlottesville, VA February 1995

Album Reference:
The Greatest Story Never Told