i remember walking around the court square
sidewalks looking in windows
the things i couldn't want
there's johnson's hardware and morgan jewelry
and the only king's apothecare
they were the little man
the little man
i go back now the stores are empty
except for an old co sign date in nineteen fifty
boarded up like they never existed
renovated and called a story district
there goes a little man
there goes a little man
now the court square's just a set of streets
that people go round
but they seldom think about
the little man that built this town
before the big money shut them down
and killed the little man
oh the little man
he pumped your gas and he cleaned your glass
and one cold rainy night he fixed your flat
the new store came where you do it yourself
you buy a lotto ticket and food off the shelf
forget the little man
forget about that little man
he hung on there for a few more years
but he couldn't sell slurpees and he wouldn't sell beer
now the bank rents the station
to a man down the road
and they sell velvet elvis in second hand clothes
there goes the little man
there goes another little man
now the court square's just a set of streets
that people go around
but they seldom think about
the little man that built this town
before the big money shut them down
and killed the little man
oh the little man
now the stores are lined up in a concrete strip
you can buy the whole world and just one trip
save a penny cause his jumbo size
and they don't even realize
they're killing the little man
oh the little man
now the court square's just a set of streets
and people go around but they seldom think
now the little man that built this town
before the big money shut them down
and killed the little man
oh the little man
it wasn't long ago when i was a child
an old black man came with his mule and his plow
he broke the ground where we grew our garden back
before we'd all forgotten
about the little man
the little man
only the little man
god bless the little man