The Everyday Story of Smalltown

(Partridge)

#\#i#/#The Big Express#\#/i#/#

The Big Express

Recordings
XTCfans interview with Andy Partridge
XTCfans interview with Dave Gregory
Art
Annotated Lyrics
Chords and Tablature
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Recordings

  1. Album version, 3'54.
    Recorded at Crescent Studios, Bath, in March 1984.
    Produced by David Lord. Engineered by Glenn Tommey.
    Released on The Big Express.
    Peter Phipps - Drums
  2. Demo version: "Smalltown".
    Released in September 2004 on Fuzzy Warbles Volume Five in the U.K.
    Andy: “As the massed bands of the Swindon Kazoo keepers sinks majestically in the west, it only remains for me to quaff my Oxo (a hot savoury drink made from reconstituted cows blood) and stroll briskly down Park Lane to the house with the monkey puzzle tree where my granny cleaned for an ancient school teacher. Her life, house and contents remained in unchanged suspension since the day her husband was killed in the First World War. But that's another story.”
  3. 2023 stereo mix.
    Mixed and produced by Steven Wilson from the original multi-track tapes.
    Released on the reissue of The Big Express on 29 September 2023 in the U.K.
  4. 2023 Dolby Atmos mix.
    Mixed and produced by Steven Wilson from the original multi-track tapes.
    Released on the reissue of The Big Express on 29 September 2023 in the U.K.
  5. 2023 DTS-HD MA Surround Sound mix.
    Mixed and produced by Steven Wilson from the original multi-track tapes.
    Released on the reissue of The Big Express on 29 September 2023 in the U.K.
  6. 2023 instrumental mix.
    Mixed and produced by Steven Wilson from the original multi-track tapes.
    Released on the reissue of The Big Express on 29 September 2023 in the U.K.

Art

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Lyrics

Notes

Adrian Dover: The “Sally Army” is “The Salvation Army. Founded in C19th I think, a left-field Christian organisation devoted to good works and (popularly) to organising brass-bands to play in town centres.”

Louis Barfe: “Oxo is a brand name for a beef stock cube that is used to make gravy or to drink from a cup.”

Smalltown, snoring under blankets
Woken by the clank
It's just the milkman's dawn round
Smalltown, hiding undercovers
The lodgers and the lovers
Are asleep 'round Smalltown

Shiney grey black snake of bikes
He slithers
Bearing up the men and boys
To work
We're standing in poplar lines
Making alarm clocks that'll wake our wives up
Don't ask us, we haven't the time
We're racing the hooter that'll signal life's up

Smalltown, crouching in the valley
Woken by the sally army
Sunday marchround
Smalltown, coughing in the toilet
Who on earth would spoil it
Would they pull down Smalltown?

If it's all the same to you
Mrs Progress
Think I'll drink my Oxo up
And get away
It's not that you're repulsive to see
In your brand new catalogue nylon nightie
You're too fast for little old me
Next you'll be telling me it's 1990

I have lived here for a thousand years or maybe more
And I've sheltered all the children who have fought the wars
And as payment they make love in me
In squeaky beds
In bicycle sheds
Inside of their heads
As singles and weds
As Tories and Reds
And that's how I'm fed
And that's how I'm fed

Smalltown, snoring under blankets
Woken by the clank
It's just the milkman's dawn round
Smalltown, hiding undercovers
The lodgers and the lovers
Are asleep 'round Smalltown

Smalltown, crouching in the valley
Woken by the sally army
Sunday marchround
Smalltown, coughing in the toilet
Now who on earth would spoil it
Will you pull down Smalltown

Smalltown
Smalltown

© 1984 Virgin Music (Publishers) Ltd.


Chords and Tablature

Date: Sat, 12 Oct 1996 14:55:21 +0100
From: Tim Harris <tim (at) wordsrus dot demon dot co dot uk>
Subject: chords to Everyday Story of a Smalltown
Message-ID: <0XFqtAAJN6XyEwPo (at) wordsrus dot demon dot co dot uk>

Everyday Story Of A Smalltown

(I think there's more to the: A   G+9   D    C
sequences - and various other chords - than I can work out?
and G+9 is what I called GABD on the keyboard -
educated musicians may disagree?
Anyway, it's in the same key as my CD):

A      G+9     D      C

G          C                                   C/B
Small town snoring under blankets woken by the clank its just the
A        D
milkmans dawn round
G          C                                       C/B           A
Small town hiding under covers the lodgers and the lovers are asleep
       D         Dmaj7  D
round small town
E                 G+9/A    E          A     Amaj7/G# E              G+9/A
Shiney grey black snake of bikes he slithers         bearing up the men
             A    Amaj7/G#
and boys to work
F#m               G+9             F#m                         G
Were standing in poplar lines    making alarm clocks thatll wake our

wives up
F#m              G+9                      F#m                       G+9
Dont ask us we havent the time    were racing the hooter thatll signal
       F#m  Dm
lifes up

G etc
Small town crouching in the valley woken by the Sally Army Sunday march

round

Small town coughing in the toilet now who on earth would spoil it

would they pull down small town?

If its all the same to you Mrs Progress think Ill drink my Oxo up and get

away

Its not that youre repulsive to see in your brand new catalogue nylon

nightie

Youre too fast for little old me    next youll be telling me its 1990

G                                               D
I have lived here for a thousand years or maybe more
G                                                       D
and Ive sheltered all the children who have fought the wars
       C                 Em
and as payment they make love in me
   F                     G                  A
in squeaky old beds,  in bicycle sheds,  inside of their heads
   B(?min)                C
as singles and weds,   as tories and reds,
     D                         E                   A  G+9  D   C   D   E
and thats how Im fed     and thats how Im fed

A          D                                            D/Db      B
Small town snoring under blankets woken by the clank its just the milkmans
E
dawn round
A          D                                       D/Db          D
Small town hiding under covers the lodgers and the lovers are asleep round
E
small town
E etc
Small town crouching in the valley woken by the Sally Army Sunday march

round

Small town coughing in the toilet now who on earth would spoil it

would they pull down small town?

A..(+9) G+9           D..(+9)  E..(+9)
Small   to....wn      small   to.....wn

--
Tim Harris

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