https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/y7-week-15-stranger-in-town-dylan-barrett/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Fri, 05 Jun 2026 02:57:30 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/y7-week-15-stranger-in-town-dylan-barrett/#post-321229 Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:14:44 +0000 I wondered about this verse, seeing a theme of not being recognized in your home town in the other verses, and wonder what this old guy has to do with it. Mostly you are seeing things you recognize, but that have changed. But here, it just seems a random encounter. What should be familiar here? Should he recognize you? Is it that the busses no longer run? Also, if no one is there to hear his sigh, how did you, the observer, observe it.... Got up and left that was my crime. Somehow, crime seems a little severe here. May I suggest "forgotten for leaving before my time"? Or maybe "That I'm seeing this all through someone else's eyes" Yeh, thanks. It didn't really fit in but I feel sorry for the elder community that see their little shops that they rely on getting wasted because the majority of the village or town would rather go to supermarkets - that's life I suppose, but sad also...
I've written a new verse to reflect that thought and also added another thing I've noticed, not just in my village but in a lot of other revamped places now...
The old man could be used as a metaphor for the narrator. He's feeling separated by the years and changes. Thanks Ernie, he's not a metaphor I'm afraid - he's a fact of life in our towns and villages... and with the writing of my new verse, he's gone and forgotten.

Stranger in Town

I walk the quiet street I can't stop myself from staring
into the windows where there once were friends
I turn the corner and hope to see a familiar face
where we stood and passed the time

A shop lays waste and empty shuttered from my eyes
the megastores helped turned the lights out
The road now gated to protect us, help us cross
and still the cars want to go faster

Chorus
The thoughts I have seem strangely out of place
I'm just a stranger in this town
It feels as if I never lived here in my past
Got up and left before their time.

They've built tall fences where gardens used to be
a line that's drawn you mustn't cross
Their eyes are watching there's a stranger coming near
outside their castles where they hide

The fence needs painting but the water beneath still flows
the church restored the graveyard full
how many weddings has it seen since we once laughed here
how many more since we have gone

The thoughts I have seem strangely out of place
I'm just a stranger in this town
It feels as if I never lived here in my past
Got up and left before their time.

I never miss this place when I leave and go back home
I holds the past I'll never find
We both have changed so much but yet we're still the same
we live and breath and then we die

The thoughts I have seem strangely out of place
I'm just a stranger in this town
It feels as if I never lived here in my past
Got up and left before their time.

Thank you. Looks like I'll have a lot of mp3 catching up to do when I get home.

Rock on!
D 8)]]> Sunday Songwriters Group DylanBarrett https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/y7-week-15-stranger-in-town-dylan-barrett/#post-321229 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/y7-week-15-stranger-in-town-dylan-barrett/#post-321212 Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:52:16 +0000 of the old man as he mumbles on
He waits to catch a bus but they cancelled it again
there's no one there to hear his sigh What should be familiar here? Should he recognize you? Is it that the busses no longer run? Also, if no one is there to hear his sigh, how did you, the observer, observe it....
The old man could be used as a metaphor for the narrator. He's feeling separated by the years and changes.

Nice lyrics Dylan.

Ernie]]> Sunday Songwriters Group stikman https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/y7-week-15-stranger-in-town-dylan-barrett/#post-321212 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/y7-week-15-stranger-in-town-dylan-barrett/#post-321201 Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:18:47 +0000 A shop lays waste and empty shuttered from the eyes
of the old man as he mumbles on
He waits to catch a bus but they cancelled it again
there's no one there to hear his sigh I wondered about this verse, seeing a theme of not being recognized in your home town in the other verses, and wonder what this old guy has to do with it. Mostly you are seeing things you recognize, but that have changed. But here, it just seems a random encounter. What should be familiar here? Should he recognize you? Is it that the busses no longer run? Also, if no one is there to hear his sigh, how did you, the observer, observe it....

I like the imagery of the other verses - they are about your thoughts, about what you're seeing. People's reaction to you and your reaction to everything.
Got up and left that was my crime. Somehow, crime seems a little severe here. May I suggest "forgotten for leaving before my time"? Or maybe "That I'm seeing this all through someone else's eyes"

Jeremy]]> Sunday Songwriters Group contagiousjerm https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/y7-week-15-stranger-in-town-dylan-barrett/#post-321201 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/y7-week-15-stranger-in-town-dylan-barrett/#post-321200 Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:42:02 +0000
Nice clear images created :D

This is one of my favorite lines "the church restored the graveyard full"

I look forward to the listen.

James]]> Sunday Songwriters Group jamestoffee https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/y7-week-15-stranger-in-town-dylan-barrett/#post-321200 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/y7-week-15-stranger-in-town-dylan-barrett/#post-321185 Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:58:40 +0000
Nice lyrics, I actually really like the way nothing rhymes. If done right this could be a very good song!]]> Sunday Songwriters Group JoeHempel https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/y7-week-15-stranger-in-town-dylan-barrett/#post-321185 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/y7-week-15-stranger-in-town-dylan-barrett/#post-321172 Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:09:41 +0000
It's an interesting set of words, and certainly fits the "minor chords" description. Got anything we can listen to?


A :-)]]> Sunday Songwriters Group Alan Green https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/y7-week-15-stranger-in-town-dylan-barrett/#post-321172 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/y7-week-15-stranger-in-town-dylan-barrett/#post-35011 Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:20:33 +0000
I've now been in the UK for three weeks and the job keeps dragging on. And then there's the snow - why, oh why did it pick these three weeks to be so cold and snowy....

Anyways, I'm leaving on a jet plane Sunday, don't know when i'll be back again....not when it's bloody snowing that's for sure!!! :roll:

So, all I have to do is wander around the village a bit, pop in the local for a pint and then wander back to me good ole' mums again.... She lives in the same village I used to live in about, ooohh, twenty fives years ago.... so it's really a story about how I feel when I come back here and what has changed since I used to live here...

Stranger in Town

I walk the quiet streets I can't stop myself from staring
into the windows where there once were friends
I turn the corner and hope to see a familiar face
where we stood and passed the time

A shop lays waste and empty shuttered from the eyes
of the old man as he mumbles on
He waits to catch a bus but they cancelled it again
there's no one there to hear his sigh

Chorus
The thoughts I have seem strangely out of place
I'm just a stranger in this town
It's feels as if I never lived here in my past
Got up and left that was my crime.

They've built tall fences where gardens used to be
a line that's drawn you mustn't cross
Thier eyes are watching there's a stranger coming near
outside their castles where they hide

The fence needs painting but the water beneath still flows
the church restored the graveyard full
how many weddings has it seen since we once laughed here
how many more since we have gone

The thoughts I have seem strangely out of place
I'm just a stranger in this town
It's feels as if I never lived here in my past
Got up and left that was my crime.

I never miss this place when I leave and go back home
I holds the past I'll never find
We both have changed so much but yet we're still the same
we live and breath and then we die

The thoughts I have seem strangely out of place
I'm just a stranger in this town
It's feels as if I never lived here in my past
Got up and left that was my crime.

Hmmm, ok, well, as it's a pretty dismal song I suppose we ought to have lots of minors, Ds, As, Es, maybe an Am7, I dunno, I haven't got my tune head on...

I suppose if i was here in the summer, things would be a little rosier, but only a bit....

Timmy Taylor and London Pride still toppers though.... :wink:

Rock on!
D 8)]]> Sunday Songwriters Group DylanBarrett https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/y7-week-15-stranger-in-town-dylan-barrett/#post-35011