Telegraph Road -- Dire Straits

A long time ago came a man on a track Walking thirty miles with a sack on his back And he put down his load where he thought it was the best
He made a home in the wilderness He built a cabin and a winter store
And he ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shore
And the other travellers came walking down the track
And they never went further and they never went back
Then came the churches then came the schools  Then came the lawyers then came the rules  Then came the trains and the trucks with their loads
And the dirty old track was the telegraph road

Then came the mines - then came the ore  Then there was the hard times then there was a war  Telegraph sang a song about the world outside
Telegraph road got so deep and so wide  Like a rolling river
And my radio says tonight it's gonna freeze  People driving home from the factories  There's six lanes of traffic  Three lanes moving slow

I used to like to go to work but they shut it down  I've got a right to go to work
but there's no work here to be found Yes and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed We're gonna have to reap from some seed that's been sowed
And the birds up on the wires and the telegraph poles  They can always fly away from this rain and this cold  You can hear them singing out their telegraph
code   All the way down the telegraph road

You know I'd sooner forget but I remember those nights  When life was just a bet on a race between the lights  You had your head on my shoulder you had your hand in my hair  Now you act a little colder like you don't seem to care
But believe in me baby and I'll take you away  From out of this darkness and into the day  From these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain
From the anger that lives on the streets with these names
'cos I've run every red light on memory lane  I've seen desperation explode into flames  And I don't wanna see it again  From all of these signs saying sorry but we're closed  All the way down the telegraph road                       (sing365) 

the lyrics narrate a tale of changing land development over a span of many decades along Telegraph Road in suburban Detroit, Michigan. In the latter verses, Knopfler focuses on one man's personal struggle with unemployment after the city built around the telegraph road has become uninhabited and barren just as it began.                                  (wikipedia)