There really was a Rue Steet once.

Ok, actually it wasn’t Rue Street. I can’t remember exactly what it was. It was something like Rue Drive or Drive Rue.

I checked Google Maps and found a very old street view that MIGHT have ALMOST shown the sign… but it’s fogged out. Oh well.

Anyway, it was in downtown South Bend – an alley crawling between the beautiful but mostly empty buildings and the thousands of parking lots each holding one or two cars. South Bend suffered the 50s and 60s the same way so many mid sized mid-west cities did: by tearing down its inter core. Those few mid-western cities that escaped – that couldn’t afford or just didn’t bother to tear down the abandoned and tax deficient buildings – they are now tourist destinations. South Bend wasn’t so lucky.

So there was an alley with a little street sign that marked it out as something like “Rue Street.” And it made me laugh. So I wrote this.

Across Rue St. is from the album Rue St., recorded in 2001 in Osceola, Indiana.

As the second song collection during that return to my hometown, the songs are a little more scattershot than the previous, Smokestacked & Steepled. A little more direct for the most part and, perhaps, a little darker. My mind was already somewhere else, really. By the middle of the year I will have ditched the hometown and the car it required (I find it funny how often “driving” comes up on these albums) and moved to Chicago.

If the video is slow to load you can find it on youtube HERE.

Across Rue St.

Up south Michigan past the mission
On the streets of snow melting gray
Past the café, across Rue Street
Feeling more like home every day.

But I’ve found I love the moments
Just before all of this goes down.
And I know I’m not long for this town.

Across the campus from a night free
From the Catholics in gold and green.
Dress for a town that once held comfort in
Knowing the lines behind every scene.

I’ve found I love the moments
Just before all of this goes down
And I know I’m not long for this town.

And I can see you watching
To catch a glimpse when this all falls down
And I know I’m not long for this town.