A Town Called Big Nothing

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.

Covers

Erich Sellheim

home studio production, sung in German

2019

YouTube

Internal links

• Lyrics  •  Covers

External links

• Elvis Costello Reissues: Blood & Chocolate