(Key of E, played from open C position with capo at the 4th fret) 
 
C Am Em F  (x2) 
 
         C                                Am 
Well the whole town came out to watch the day they paved the parking lot 
    Em                        F                     F 
Somebody hung a ribbon up and then they cut it down. 
 
And that big white rose up on that sign was the innocence in all our lives 

And you could see its neon light from half a mile out. 

Gas was fifty cents a gallon and they'd put it in for you, 

And they'd check your oil and pump your tires and wash your windows, too. 

And we'd shine those cars as bright as bright and we'd go park underneath those lights 

Stare out at the prairie sky, there was nothing else to do. 
                Am                           Em 
But now there's plywood for glass, where the windows all got smashed 
            F                                    G 
And there's just a chunk of concrete where those old pumps used to stand. 
          Am                                        Em 
There's a couple of cars half out of the ground, an oil sign still spins 'round and 'round 
    F                                              G      Am 
But I guess a White Rose filling station is just a memory now.  
 
And the girls would spend a couple of bucks just to meet the boys working at the pumps 

And they'd grow up and fall in love and they'd all move away. 

Strangers used to stop and ask how far they'd driven off the map, 

And then they built that overpass and now they stay out on the highway. 
 
(Chorus) 
        F                                   Am 
And the neon sign was the heart and soul of this old one-horse town 
         G                                 F 
And it's like it lost its will to live the day they shut it down. 
 
(Chorus) 
 
(Repeat last line, then Am G Am )