A Tudor Town in Metro Atlanta

Lyrics

Alright, let's talk about holding a line. 
Let's talk about a town that remembers its name.

George Willis drew a line in the DeKalb clay back in 1924.
Said, "Here, we'll have Stratford. Right here."
A hundred years later, the metro roars past on all sides.
But the Design Review Board still meets on Tuesdays.
Still checks the pitch of the roof, the mullions in the windows.
It's a discipline. A kind of civic faith.
You don't just wander into being yourself for a century.

You do it with the Beerfest down by the lake in September!
You do it with the old Towne Cinema marquee lit up on a Friday!
You do it with the Garden Club ladies debating mulch depth since the fifties!
You do it with the Christmas Tour, candles in every lead-paned window!
This is how you stay a Tudor town in Metro Atlanta.

And it ain't some museum piece, don't get me wrong.
This ain't a snow globe you just shake and admire.
'Cause down the street, since 1996, the bass is thumping at My Sister's Room.
The Southern anchor, holding its own kind of space.
See? The Tudor frame is strong enough to hold all of it.
The old dream and the new one, dancing on the same floor.

You do it with the Beerfest down by the lake in September!
You do it with the old Towne Cinema marquee lit up on a Friday!
You do it with the Garden Club ladies debating mulch depth since the fifties!
You do it with the Christmas Tour, candles in every lead-paned window!
This is how you stay a Tudor town in Metro Atlanta.

A hundred years.
A hundred years of saying 'no' to the easy thing, the cheap thing.
A hundred years of half-timbered gables staring down the sprawl.
The MARTA train slides in, an ambassador from the outside world.
But it knows.
Soon as you step onto the platform here... you're in Avondale.

So raise a glass! To the slate roofs and the swan boats!
To the drag shows and the dogwoods!
To the whole beautiful, stubborn, unlikely thing!
A Tudor town...
still standing. In Metro Atlanta. 
Yeah!