The summer sets and winter comes
Inside the diner people talk
Rural America alive and kicking
The skeletal bones at the same old heart

I've seen she talks about yesterdays
And how it was back then
When she always got something for nothing
And the nature of living was the best it'd been

Through the wealth of a nation
It's on the threads of our lives
From a poor man to a rich man
From a dollar to a dime

Amidst the smoke of the barroom
Albert tells his friends
How he was raised on nothing
And how it was back then

When a family worked together
Long days behind the plow
And the pride that came from the soil he was working
The food on the table kept him alive somehow

Through the wealth of the nation
It's on the threads of their lives
From a poor man to a rich man
From a dollar to a dime

From a poor man to a rich man
From a dollar to a dime
They all know that changes mean the passing of years
And years mean sorrow when you watch them disappear

These people once the backbone have seen time pass them by
From a poor man to a rich man
From a downer to a dime
Through the wealth of the nation

It's on the threads of their lives
From a poor man to a rich man
From a dollar to a dime
From a poor man to a rich man

From a dollar to a dime
From a poor
From a man to a rich man, from a dollar to a dime