OPENER    Mainstream

Sides face grand square
From the corners of the country
From the cities and the farms
With years and years of living
Tucked up underneath their arms
4 ladies promenade, get home and swing
Swing your lady, promenade
God bless the boys who make the noise
On Sixteenth Avenue

FIGURE    Mainstream, corner progression

Heads (sides) star thru, pass thru
Circle four make a line, go in and back
Pass thru, wheel & deal, centers star thru
Pass thru, cloverleaf in time
New centers square thru 3 hands
That corner you swing, swing that lady, promenade
God bless the boys who make the noise
On Sixteenth Avenue

MIDDLE BREAK    Mainstream

Sides face grand square
(32 beat musical interlude)
4 ladies promenade, swing your own
Swing that lady, promenade
God bless the boys who make the noise
On Sixteenth Avenue

CLOSER    Mainstream

Sides face grand square
Ah, but then one night in some musty room
With the curtains never hung
Like a miracle some golden words
Rolled off of someone's tongue
4 ladies promenade, swing your own
Swing that lady, promenade
And for a while, they'll go in style
On Sixteenth Avenue

TAG

God bless the boys who make the noise
On Sixteenth Avenue

From the corners of the country
From the cities and the farms
With years and years of living
Tucked up underneath their arms

They walked away from everything
Just to see a dream come true
So God bless the boys who make the noise
On 16th Avenue

With a million dollar spirit
And an old flattop guitar
They drive to town with all they own
In a hundred dollar car

'Cause one time someone told them
About a friend of a friend they knew
Who owns, you know, a studio
On 16th Avenue

Now some were born to money
They've never had to say "Survive"
And others swing a 9 pound hammer
Just to stay alive

There's cowboys, drunks, and Christians
Mostly white and black and blue
They've all dialed the phone collect to home
From 16th Avenue

Ah, but one night in some empty room
Where no curtains ever hung
Like a miracle, some golden words
Rolled off of someone's tongue

And after years of being nothing
They're all looking right at you
And for a while, they'll go in style
On 16th Avenue

It looked so uneventful
So quiet and discreet
But a lot of lives were changes
Down in that little one-way street

'Cause they walk away from everything
Just to see a dream come true
So God bless the boys who make the noise
On 16th Avenue

From the corners of the country
From the cities and the farms
With years and years of living
Tucked up underneath their arms

They walked away from everything
Just to see a dream come true
So God bless the boys who make the noise
On 16th Avenue

Lyrics by Thom Schuyler.
Recorded by Lacy J. Dalton.