Imaginary Wars Lyrics - Mark Erelli

Behind the house where I lived 

Back when I was a kid 

I played G.I. Joe beneath the tall pine trees 

I'd fight imaginary wars 

'Til my mom called from our back porch 

And I'd come home covered in that pine pitch 

From my head down to my knees 

Too big to wrap my arms around 

Surely older than I could count 

Must have been there since the Mayflower crossed the sea 

They'd been through blizzards and hurricanes 

Summer droughts and freezing rain 

Them pines would live forever 

At least that's how it seemed to me 

CHORUS: 

Now what's become of the old pine woods 

It's all gone and there's a brand new neighborhood 

All for a buck they cut down all those trees 

They subdivided all of my fondest memories 

When those trucks came for my woods 

I did everything I could 

And it was war for real when school let out that June 

I ripped down flags and I pulled up stakes 

But what difference can one boy make 

Them pines still fell like thunder on a summer afternoon 

CHORUS 

And I never became friends 

With the families that moved in 

They were different from us or so it seemed 

I grew up and moved away 

I just go home on holidays 

But those tall and tangled pines 

They're still falling in my dreams 

We all want the greenest lawn 

And a country club where we belong 

And an SUV to get us there in style 

But we don't keep track of what we've lost 

We can't calculate the cost 

When there's no place left for a boy's 

Imagination to run wild 

So what's become of the old pine woods 

It's all gone and it's gone for good 

All for a buck they cut down all those trees