_ A while back, I just needed to get away.
_ _ I got in my car one day and just started heading south.
I didn't know where I was going.
I just _ stopped and picked up an Atlas so I wouldn't get lost.
But I didn't go back to my hometown.
_ I went in that direction and through a lot of old areas that I'd traveled through,.
_
A# I guess in search of something, in search of a simpler time in my life or whatever.
I went through a lot of small towns that reminded me of _ where I was raised and places I'd come from.
_ _ It was sad because I realized how much they had changed since I'd been back
F in
E those areas.
N _ A lot of places were sad because _ _ a lot of them seemed dried up.
It was like a lot of the small town businesses and the mom and pop stores.
and the independence of some of the people who
Em had actually
F built those towns.
because they were having trouble staying alive, staying in business.
because of all the big chains coming in and everything that takes over these days.
I think it's a very colorful and important part of American history.
I hate to see it going away.
I hope it doesn't.
_ I just wanted to write this song about it.
We made this video in an attempt to recapture some of those scenes and
E feelings.
that inspired
G the song _ about the little man.
_ _ .
_
G# _ _ _
C# _ _ _ _ .
F# _ _ _ _
C# _ _ _ _ .
F# _ _ _ _
C# _ _ _ _ .
G# _ _ _ _
F# _ _ _ _ .
_ _ _ _
C# _ _ _ _ .
G# _ _ _ _
F# _ _ _ _ .
_ _ _ _
C# _ _ _ _ .
F# _ _ _ _
C# _ _ _ _ .
_ _ _ _ I go back now
G# and the stores are empty
F# except an old Coke sign dated 1950.
_
C# _ Boarded up like
G# they never existed,
F# but renovated and called Historic Districts.
C# There goes the little man, _ .
F# _ _ there
C# goes the little man.
_ _ .
_ _ _
A#m Now the court square's just
F# a set of streets.
C# People go around
G# but they seldom think
A#m about the little man
F# that built this town.
C# Before the big money
G# shut him down,
C# he killed the little man, _ .
F# _ _ _
C# the awful little man.
_ .
F# _ _ _ _
C# He pumped your gas
G# and he cleaned your glass.
F# One cold rainy night he fixed your flat.
C# A new store came
G# where you do it yourself.
You
F# buy a lotto ticket, food off the shelf.
C# Forget the little man, _ _ .
F# _ forget about
C# that little man.
_ .
_ _ _ _ He hung on
G# there for a few more years.
F# He couldn't sell slurpees, he wouldn't sell
B beer.
G# C# Now the bank rents a station
G# to a man down the road and
F# they sell velvet Elvis.
_ Secondhand clothes, there
C# goes the little man, _ .
F# there goes another
C# little man.
_ _ .
_ _ _
A#m Now the court square's just
F# a set of streets.
C# People go around
G# but they seldom think
A#m about the little man
F# that built this town.
C# Before the big money
G# shut him down, he
C# killed the little man, _ .
F# _ _ _
C# the awful little man.
_ .
_ _ _ _
A#m _ _ _ _ .
F# _ _ _ _
C# _ _ _ _ .
G# _ _ _ _
A#m _ _ _ _ .
F# _ _ _ _
C# _ _ _ _ .
G# _ _ _
C# _ _ _ _ _ .
_ _ _ Now the stores are lined up
G# in a concrete strip.
F# You can buy the whole world in just one trip.
_
C# _ Save a penny
G# cause it's jumbo size.
F# They don't even realize they're
C# killing the little man, _ .
F# _ _ _
C# oh the little man.
_ .
_ _ _
A#m Now the court square's just
F# a set of streets.
C# People go around
G# but they seldom think about the
A#m little man
F# that built this town.
C# Before the big
G# money shut him down, he
C# killed the little man, _ .
F# _ _ _
C# oh the little man.
_ .
_
F# _ _ _
C# It wasn't long
G# ago when I was a
F# child, an old black man came with his mule and his plow.
C# He broke the ground
G# where we grew our garden
F# back before we'd all forgotten _ about
C# the little man, _
F# _ _ _ .
C# the little man.
_
F# _ _ Long
C# live the little man.
_ _
F# _ _ _ .
God bless
C# the little _ man.
G# _ _ _
C#m _
C# _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .