Portland, Michigan

from 700 Miles by Mary Lee's Corvette

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about

Words & music by Mary Lee Kortes. This is a song about my hometown. Portland is located in the middle of the state of Michigan at the intersection of two rivers—the Grand River and the Lookinglass River. This song is an homage to the beauty and pain of small town, midwestern living, and to my family, which was faced with great emotional hardship. I try to express gratitude for everything good, for the interconnectedness that survives upheaval, while acknowledging the difficulty we all faced individually. No sugar coating or rose colored glasses here. No classic midwestern "if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all" attitude.

lyrics

Portland, Michigan (words and music by Mary Lee Kortes)

Born in a small Midwestern town
Our roots went deep into ground
Innocence and fear like cousins bound
Growin’ wild with the weeds under the cornstalks

Right on the day I turned thirteen
My mother died my dad turned mean
I cut off the bottoms of my jeans
Started a long, dark walk

Through my two-river town, my two best friends
They’d run away come back again
Bringin’ me vision strength and sense
Told me I didn’t have to talk

Look homeward angel all you like
You can’t go home again that’s right
A million miles away tonight
But it feels like Portland, Michigan

Summer days sweet and long
We’d skip around and sing pop songs
Oh Monday, Monday where have you gone
Can you take me there with you

The winters came, white silent sound
On roofs and fields, a big white crown
But the façade would soon melt down
Leave us naked, scared and true

My brother broke the local laws
A local rebel, local cause
His scars went deeper than we saw
And so we never knew what to say

My sister swept the carpets clean
But underneath her whole world went unseen
She buried her visions and her dreams
They’d come back for her one day

Look homeward angel all you like
You can’t go home again that’s right
The world looks different tonight
But it feels like Portland, Michigan
It feels like Portland, Michigan

Our graduation day was bright
Ninety-one caps and gowns of red and white
We’d lost some on the way alright
We took a moment to recall

Like fireworks must blow apart
I landed somewhere in New York
With eight million people I’d met before
Yea I know ‘em one and all

I’m future bound the future’s bright
But in the darkness and the light
The past walks with me side by side
And it feels like Portland, Michigan
It feels like Portland, Michigan
And if I could have one wish again
I’d take one more chance at Portland, Michigan

It’s been so long since I left there
You won’t hear my name there anywhere
But in that cemetery I got my share
Do you ever really leave at all

Though days of promise have gone black
And I’ve sifted fiction from the fact
Still I wish I could go back
Start that long dark walk

Back to a small Midwestern town
Where roots go deep into the ground
Innocence and fear like cousins bound
Won’t you meet me at midnight in the cornstalks
Meet me in the cornstalks

credits

from 700 Miles, released March 21, 2003
Mary Lee Kortes: vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards, harmonica
Andy York: acoustic guitar
Brad Albetta: bass guitar
Graham Hawthorne: drums and percussion
Joe Chiofalo: accordion

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Mary Lee Kortes New York, New York

"Songs so meticulously crafted they sound completely natural". Jon Pareles, The New York Times
“Mary Lee Kortes's voice—the high mountain sunshine of Dolly Parton with a sweet-iron undercoat of Chrissie Hynde." David Fricke, Rolling Stone
"Mary Lee in concert... a feast for lovers of great songwriting that thrives in live performance for its wit, insight and glowing humanity." Billboard ... more

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