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Small Town
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© jiva 2003

Michael was my friend but they took him away
Saying he was clinically depressed
They said that he was mad, but I knew he was sad
Still they said that it was for the best
For the small town
Such a small, a small small town

I didn't want to stay so I made myself a name
Singing about the sorrow and the shame
Of a friend that I once knew, and the pain they put him through
How in the end it drove him quite insane
This small town
Such a small, a small small town

I've got no time for friends 'cos I'm on the road again
Singing about the sadness and the blame
I got a red Ferrari car and I fly my private plane
Don't think I'm coming back again
To this small town
Such a small, a small small town

It's a small town
Such a small, a small small town

Michael is secure in his small padded cell
And how I really wish him well
And they say they'll find a cure but me, I'm not so sure
What he really thinks no one can tell
Of this small town
Such a small, a small small town

As I lie here in my bed the voices in my head
Tell me there's a conflict in my brain
They say they couldn't hear me sing and I'd imagined everything
Doctors tell me Michael is my name
It's a small town
Such a small, a small small town

Song Info
Jimmy and Val spent many years in Prudhoe, a town in Northumberland which had a large mental hospital. For many of the patients, the hospital was all they knew - with its own church, its own community hall, its own gardens, the doctors, the nurses, and the volunteer visitors and helpers... it was a small town in itself.

In Prudhoe, like so many other places, there was very little understanding of mental illness, and local people were distrustful of the patients.

This song started out as a comment on small town attitudes, and how anything or anyone not conforming was branded an outcast. It tells of one person's method of getting out ... singing (even if only in his mind).

Is it autobiographical? We leave that for you to decide.

This song is on our album 'Best Friends' - you can buy the album from us at gigs and also from our Music page where you can see the full track listing.
 

'Michael is secure
in his small padded cell'
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