From the corners of the country From the cities and the farms With years and years of living Tucked up underneath their arms They walk 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 meaning byBobtullmann They express the unlikely and mysterious events that lead up to becoming a musical success; going from obscurity to being "discovered". See all '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 then 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 where changed Down on 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