A Town Called Big Nothing

From The Elvis Costello Wiki

Big nothing

He stood in the road outside of town
With a broken clockwork toy in his hand
A graveyard for childish dreams in his palm
A broken lifeline

Big nothing

The mechanical amusement sputtered to life in his fist
As he clenched, it whirred and died again
It was a cowboy who drew his gun
But the pistol was welded to the holster
By age and careless children
So it struggled and strained
And it unwound its own spring

Big nothing

He didn't need tattoos to show where he'd been
And who he'd loved
It was the same thing that men had cried for
That women had dyed their hair for
The cellophane illusion of a starry sky
Stretched over an open sore

Big nothing

He thought about his lost daughter
The way her eyes would alight at the greedy circus barker's blackmail song
How he wanted to smash her skull in when she parroted back
"Tell mommy; tell poppy; you need this little dolly"

Big nothing

Big nothing

The smoky voice of the petaled girl woke him long enough
There was too much light in the room, so he unscrewed the bulb
She took him to bed like an adopted dog

Big nothing

She lit sickly incense as he tried to tell himself
The resemblance were pure and coincidental
He unleashed his grip on the toy and all it meant to him
And it wound down forever

Big nothing

He woke up in a sweat the next day
With her smile still painted on his mouth
He walked out of a town called Big Nothing

Big nothing
Big nothing
Big nothing
Big nothing
Big nothing

A Town Called Big Nothing (Really Big Nothing)
Written by	Declan MacManus
Performed by	The MacManus Gang featuring the voice of Sy Richardson
Produced by	Declan MacManus
Musicians	Declan MacManus - vocals ("Big Nothing" whispers and fairground voice), Spanish guitar, electric guitar, acoustic bass guitar, percussion Ross MacManus - trumpet, Flamenco clapping Cait O'Riordan - vocals (fairground voice) Steve Hart (a.k.a. Steve Nieve) - piano Pete Thomas - drum machine, tambourine, percussion Sy Richardson - narration
Recorded	1986, Ocean Way, Los Angeles
Released	May 4, 1987
Albums	Blood & Chocolate (Rykodisc/Demon edition), 1995
Singles	A Town Called Big Nothing, 1987
Collections	Out Of Our Idiot, 1987 Singles, Volume 3, 2003 In Motion Pictures, 2012
Soundtracks	Straight To Hell, 1987 Straight To Hell - Returns, 2004
Promos	The British At Midem 95, 1995
Length	5:45 (all releases except 7" single) 4:14 (7" single edit, listed as "Town Called Big Nothing" without parenthetical title)

Background:
An instrumental snippet was played in some 1986-1987 concerts, but this song has otherwise never been played in concert.
(0 known performance, 6 as a snippet)

Alternate versions

A Town Called Big Nothing (The Long March)
Performed by	The MacManus Gang
Produced by	Declan MacManus
Released	May 4, 1987
Singles	A Town Called Big Nothing, 1987
Collections	Singles, Volume 3, 2003
Length	5:45
Note	This alternate mix has a shorter intro and longer outro and lacks Sy Richardson's voiceover but still includes the whispered "big nothing" vocals.

Big Nothing
Performed by	The MacManus Gang
Produced by	Declan MacManus
Released	June 1987
Soundtracks	Straight To Hell, 1987 Straight To Hell - Returns, 2004
Length	5:45
Note	This alternate mix is similar to "The Long March" but lacks the whispers.