There is a town I spent a number of formative years in, the translation of which converts, apparently as hell. I don't know how true this is, but it makes for a good song idea. The town itself is located between Norwich and Ipswich in the UK and provided a unique backdrop as a city person growing into adulthood.
I have lots of very fond memories of that place not least of all how accommodating its inhabitants were, nothing I have found since anywhere else, however an enduring sensation from that time has stayed with me.
Diss - the town in question, lives in its own dimension, protected from progress, isolated from the outside even today as unlikely as it seems.
Its local economy is built on charity shops, kebab houses and small independent businesses with dreams of grandeur yet, they never really take hold somehow. It once had a pretty decent record store, then suddenly it didn't.
Boredom was a going concern, job prospects were dismal and only really did factory work slaughtering chickens or stacking shelves beckon.
One fine past time was of course sex and drugs and I was young enough and free enough to explore this pretty thoroughly. Looking back now, it is the insular, closed gene pool that is the inspiration for this song, how unlike in big cities, drama and relationships were confined to a small claustrophobic space, where salacious stories could spread with abandon and you couldn't get off with anyone who you probably didn't know somehow.
This song is a song about a world view when you have such a small world to explore and what it might look like returning to it now.
I should add that this version of the song is older than the latest lyrics I am including, I think I have explored this track and understood more since.
Lyrics:
"Walking down these old streets
I’m searching for your door
I’m scarred and don’t know my own face
Would you recognise me anymore
And I wonder
If this was ever real
Me watching you bow your head
And kneel
The secrets,
We could never tell
Life in a small town called Hell
The late nights and the lies
We told as strangers passing through
Now I’m faded and greyed out
Swollen and broken too
Gave away your lonesome heart
Under a dust tailed tobacco sun
Taking it apart
In your bedroom
The secrets,
We could never tell
Life in a small town called Hell
Walking down these old streets
I’m searching for your door
These eyes are dark,
Back is broken
Returning from a war
Now I wonder if
This was ever real
Watching you bow your head and kneel
The secrets We could never tell Life in a small town called Hell "
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