My Little Town

“My name is Walter Frederick Browder. I was born January 25, 1926. I recall that Mr. Bob Hudson used to sell little Hershey Kisses. Would you all care to guess at what the price of a Hershey Kiss was?” – A penny? (child) – You’re a little high. You got five for a penny. Five for a penny. And Mr. Bob had him a little old drinking glass, just the right size to where he could scoop that up and it would hold fifty. And he noticed me one time watching him and he shook it and scooped again and shook it. And then he says, “Now Fred, I think that maybe there will be fifty there. If you count them now, and if I’ve shorted you even one, you let me know later and I’ll make it good. But, he hadn’t shorted me. He had hit just right on the nose. What I say to you is to do as well as you can on your schooling. You may need it someday, not necessarily to make a living but to make a life.” – Walter Frederick Browder

From the Album Here I Stand: Elder’s Wisdom; Children’s Song (Smithsonian Folkways)

Back in ’29 when the stock market crashed
People back then had little cash
When the stock market tumbled to the ground
What will become of my little town

My little town, my little town
What will become of my little town
The only stock I owned
Was horse, pigs and cows
What will become of my little town

If you did not own, you left or sharecropped
The owner took half of everything you got
Plus, the cost of seed that went in the ground
What will become of my little town

My little town, my little town
What will become of my little town
The only stock I owned
Was horse, pigs and cows
What will become of my little town

Just like the mines up on the hill
Just like the corn ground in the grist mills
Just like a banjo without a sound
What will become of my little town

My little town, my little town
What will become of my little town
The only stock I owned
Was horse, pigs and cows
What will become of my little town
Just like Round Mountain; just like Rock Run
That used to burn as hot as the sun
Just like Dirt Cellar; the oak is cut down
What will become of my little town

My little town, my little town
What will become of my little town
The only stock I owned
Was horse, pigs and cows
What will become of my little town

Now there’s a slump in the sock mills
Now there’s a drought out in the fields
Where are the people; where are they bound
What will become of my little town

My little town, my little town
What will become of my little town
The only stock I owned
Was horse, pigs and cows
What will become of my little town

Words & music by Larry Long
Copyright Larry Long 1996 | BMI

*Collectively written by Larry Long with youth from Gaylesville rural Alabama through the Elders’ Wisdom, Children’s Song program in partnership with PACERS Small Schools Cooperative and Community Celebration of Place. Inspired by Mr. Walter Frederick Browder.

Appears on

Listen Now

Here I Stand: Elders’ Wisdom, Children’s Song is exclusively available on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Listen Now

Larry’s music is available on Apple Music, Amazon, Spotify, Bandcamp and select e-tailers