i remember walkin’ ’round the court square sidewalks
looking in windows at things i couldn’t want
there’s johnson’s hardware and morgan’s jewelry
and the old lee king’s apothecary
they were the little man
the little man
i go back now and the stores are empty
except for an old coke sign dated 950
boarded up like they never existed
or renovated and called historic districts
there goes the little man
there goes the little man
now the court square’s just a set of streets
that the people go round but they seldom think
about the little man that built this town
before the big money shut them down
and killed the little man
oh the little man
he pumped your gas and he cleaned your glass
and one cold rainy night he fixed your flat
the new stores came where you do it yourself
you buy a lotto ticket and food off the shelf
forget the little man
forget about that little man
he hung on there for a few more years
but he couldn’t sell slurpees
and he wouldn’t sell beer
now the bank rents the station
to a man down the road
and they sell velvet elvis and
secondhand clothes
there goes little man
there goes another little man
now the court square’s just a set of streets
that the people go round but they seldom think
about the little man that built this town
before the big money shut them down
and killed the little man
oh the little man
now the stores are lined up in a concrete strip
you can buy the whole world in just one trip
and save a penny because it’s jumbo size
they don’t even realize
they’re killing the little man
oh the little man
now the court square’s just a set of streets
that the people go round but they seldom think
about the little man that built this town
before the big money shut them down
and killed the little man
oh the little man
4
it wasn’t long ago when i was a child
an old black man came with his mule and his plow
he broke the ground where we grew our garden
back before we’d all forgotten
about the little man
the little man
long live the little man
god bless the little man
Artist: Alan Jackson
Year: 1999
Decade: 90s
Language: en
Word Count: 211