Back When Dubuque Was Ours - Mission 7:23

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:13]Dubuque didn't look [music] like postcards, flat roads and endless corn.

[00:00:19]It had hills that made your legs burn.

[00:00:22]And a river that made you feel born.

[00:00:26]Mississippi [music] rolling silver past the bluffs and the old brick walls.

[00:00:32]We were kids with nowhere to be.

[00:00:35]But somehow we had it all.

[00:00:38]Shap Tower [music] pizza after ball games, Jack's Chicken Palace on [singing] a Friday night.

[00:00:44]Those subs wrapped up [music] in paper.

[00:00:47]Pickle Barrel packed in tight.

[00:00:50]And if your name made the paper in the Telegraph-Herald [singing] lights, man, you walked a little [music] taller.

[00:01:00]For the rest of your whole life, [music] back when Dubuque was ours.

[00:01:06]And the summer nights ran long.

[00:01:09]We were young enough to believe [music] nothing good could ever be gone.

[00:01:16]From Grandview [music] down to the river.

[00:01:19]From JFK to the stars. We didn't know we were lucky >> [music] >> back when Dubuque was ours.

[00:01:29]>> [music] >> I can still see Happy Joe's windows watching dough fly [music] through the air.

[00:01:36]Birthday horns worn out and laughing like joy [music] was hanging there.

[00:01:42]We walked up and down Grandview >> [music] >> just hoping friends would appear. No phones, no plans, no reasons.

[00:01:52]>> [music] >> Just the best damn time of year.

[00:01:55]Cruising JFK [singing] in circles. Dairy Queen [music] to Burger King.

[00:02:01]Looking for a car we knew like that [music] was everything.

[00:02:08]Windows down, cheap gas burning. Some song we barely [music and singing] knew.

[00:02:14]And if somebody flashed their headlights, that meant [music] the night was new back when Dubuque was ours.

[00:02:22][music] And the summer nights ran long.

[00:02:27]We were [music] young enough to believe nothing good could ever be [music] gone.

[00:02:33]From Grandview down to the river.

[00:02:36]From JFK [music] to the stars. We didn't know we were lucky back [music] when Dubuque was ours.

[00:02:48]Pickup games at Asbury Park, [music] sweat dripping on cracked concrete.

[00:02:54]Baseball days at Riley.

[00:02:57]Grass [music] stains on our knees.

[00:03:00]Splashing through that [singing] little creek waiting on the next [music] game call.

[00:03:06]Swinging clubs at Bunker Hill trying [music] not to lose them all.

[00:03:12]Hempstead Mustangs, Senior Rams, >> [music] >> Wahlert Golden Eagles proud.

[00:03:19]Rivalries felt like kingdoms when your whole town was the crowd. [music] Team meals down at Moracco's. Stories [music] growing [singing] every year.

[00:03:31]We thought we were passing [music] time but time was passing there.

[00:03:38]>> [music] >> There were house parties in basements with the music way too loud. [music] Somebody's parents out of town.

[00:03:48]And everybody feeling proud.

[00:03:51]>> [music] >> Sometimes out by the quarries underneath that [music and singing] summer moon.

[00:03:58]Coolers, headlights, gravel dust.

[00:04:01]Thinking morning came too soon.

[00:04:03][singing] Then somebody yelled, "Cops [music] are here!"

[00:04:07]And the whole place disappeared.

[00:04:10]Running through the dark [music] and laughing half scared out of our years.

[00:04:17]We weren't [music] trying to be trouble.

[00:04:20]We were just young, wild, and free.

[00:04:23]>> [music] >> Making stories we'd laugh about when life got hard to believe.

[00:04:30]And yeah, we grew up like everybody does. Some left town, [music] some stayed because some names changed, some dreams came true, some streets don't look the way they used to.

[00:04:42]>> [music] >> But I swear sometimes when the river bends just [music] right I can hear those old cars rolling >> [music] >> through a Dubuque summer night.

[00:04:58]Later [music] on it was Fat Tuesdays, the Walnut Whiskey River, too.

[00:05:04]And east across the bridge we went like we had something to prove.

[00:05:10]>> [music] >> Closing down the Coliseum laughing louder than we should. [music] Moe Groz's waiting like a rescue. Greasy [music] heaven never tasted so good. No taxis left, no better [music] plan.

[00:05:27]Just the bridge beneath our feet.

[00:05:30]Walking back to Iowa >> [music] >> half alive and half asleep. And somehow even those bad ideas look golden from this far. Like every [music] wrong turn led us home back when Dubuque was ours. Back when Dubuque was ours. [music] And the summer nights ran long.

[00:05:55]We were young [music] enough to believe nothing good could ever be gone. From Grandview down to the river.

[00:06:05]From JFK [music] to the stars.

[00:06:08]We didn't know we were lucky [music] back when Dubuque was ours. NO, WE DIDN'T KNOW we were lucky.

[00:06:18]But we [music] carry every scar.

[00:06:21]AND I THANK GOD I got to grow up back [music] when Dubuque was ours.

[00:06:29]Mississippi keeps [music] on rolling past the bluffs and old brick towers.

[00:06:36]But a piece of [music] me is still there back when Dubuque was ours.

[00:06:42]>> [music]