My Home Town in Kansas
If you could just see my home town in Kansas–
We’ve got a tree and a store and electric light;
It’s hard to find it at night!
I Want to go Back to My Little Grass Shack In Kealakekua, Hawaii
I can hear the old guitars a-playing on the beach at Honaunau
I can hear the old Hawaiians saying “Komo mai no kaua i ka hale welakahau”
Hometown - Joe Jackson
Spring Comes to Spiddal - Waterboys
Elderly Lady Behind The Counter In A Small Town. - Pearl Jam
I always heard it as “I cannot forget just where it is that I come from.” But I’m sure I am giving Mellencamp too much credit on that one.
An Oregon double shot:
Shawn Mullins “Twin Rocks, Oregon”
Loretta Lynn and Jack White “Portland, Oregon” (obviously not a small town, but a very small town-y feeling song).
I’ll throw in another two Shawn Mullins (does anybody else even remember this guy?) from the same album: “Tannin Bed Song” and “Ballad of Billy Joe McKay”.
And yet another country classic, take your pick of artist, “Sunday Morning Coming Down.”
One of my favorites: Old Coyote Town. I love Don Williams. He should definately be way more popular than he is.
Her name is Iris Dement </nitpick>
And how about “Our Little Town” by her husband, Mr. Greg Brown?
…and another:
Texas (1947) - Guy Clark. Not specifically about a small town, but it sure captures the small town feel.
I immediately thought of Neil Young’s Unknown Legend:
Dangit, that’s the one I came in to say. I need to break out those old DM tapes again.
“Nutbush City Limits” by Tina Turner.
And then there is ‘Sudbury Saturday Night’. Of course Sudbury may be a big city to someone from Tillsonburg…
If you’re actually interested in hearing a song rather than just reading the title on a page, here’s an mp3 of “Just Like Tivoli”. It starts very slowly and quietly (be patient), then builds into one of the most beautiful songs you’ll ever hear. It’s from the point of view of a child from an abusive home, remembering the visit to what to her seemed like a magical town (in New York state), when it wasn’t really the town that was magical, but the fact that she was temporarily safe there, hence the tinge of sadness to the song.
I nominate “Okie From Muskogee,” by Merle Haggard, even though it’s wrong about the marijuana thing.
Ahem. The song is Ode to Billy Joe, and he jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.
Good song. Not so good movie.
[nitpick]That’s off Paul Simon’s solo album “Still Crazy After All These Years”[/nitpick]
But it’s the movie that made Robby Benson a star!
“The Everyday Story of Smalltown”, by XTC.
My Town - Montgomery Gentry
Midnight Girl in a Sunset Town - Sweethearts of the Rodeo
Small Town Saturday Night - Hal Ketchum
This Town - Bryan White
Down Home - Alabama (more about the small town “feel” than an actual small town)
Bob Seger’s Night Moves always seemed to have a small town nostalgia feel to it.
Johnny Cash’s I’ve Been Everywhere lists a whole bunch of towns, big and small.