Little Guys

I was in the first grade, I was pumping gasoline
 Dad did the wrenchin' and Momma kept the books clean
 I could rebuild a carburetor
 By the time I was twelve years old
 I'll have you back on the road, get you back in your machine
 B is for Butch, Evelyn is Momma's name
 B&E Auto Service, just a block off Main
 Coming up on forty years
 All in all, not a bad career
 But after we lost Dad things began to change
 Each day there's a little less I recognize in my hometown
 It's hard, watching the little guys going down
 Oil and grime in the pores of my skin
 Think of all the brake dust I've been breathin' in
 I got a stack of new regulations
 And high tech specifications
 I can't keep up, too old to go to school again
 Stop lights we had one, now there's four
 And you can't see the shop from Main street anymore
 There's a new H.E.B. 'cross town
 But over here things are slowing down
 As I turn out the lights, lock up my front door
 Mom and pops like us don' t have a place in the world today
 The little guy shops don' t stand a
 Chance when the big guys start to play
 The old men in town meet for coffee every day
 If things go smooth I'll take my place come May
 Or I could set up the navigation
 Head out and see the nation
 Instead of watching my old friends fade away
 Each day there's a little less I recognize in my hometown
 And it's hard, watching the little guys going down.
 It's progress so they say but that don't mean I'm hanging 'round
 'Cause it's hard, watching the little guys doing down