This Town, a song

I grew up in the small town of Gibbons, Alberta.  Set on the prairies with a population of 5000 and open farmland in every direction, it was not an especially cosmopolitan community to grow up in. It never felt small to me, though, or especially provincial. 

I had the good fortune to go home a couple of summers ago and spend a full day wandering my hometown, some 35 years after the fact, reminiscing and reuniting and rediscovering how truly remarkable this small town was.  I had no clue, for instance, that the freedom to explore the Sturgeon River valley unsupervised for hours on end was a great gift to a growing child's psyche, or that living a stones-throw from every good friend you had gave you a profound feeling of connectedness and belonging.  Growing up in little old Gibbons, I realized, was a beautiful gift from God. 

A year or so later, I wrote this song as a tribute to the Town of Gibbons, and a word of thanks to God for having given it to me, and me to it.  I hope you enjoy, and I hope it inspires you to reflect on your own childhood, and all the things you never knew at the time were shaping you into the grown-up you've become.



We were chasing dragons
With our homemade wooden swords
There in your river valley
At the edges of our world

We were making legends
Out of never ending days
On your forbidden rooftops
In your back alleys

You don’t always know how who you were
Is who you are today
Or how the man that you’ve become was born
In child’s play (oh)

This town was big enough
For the three of us to run around in
Till we were tall enough to ride
With fireworks on the summer nights
While lightning played across the sky
It wasn’t much but it’ll last me till I die

We were chasing lovers
When all the dragons had been tamed
The mystery discovered
And all the heroes had been named

We were forging friendships
Under never-ending skies
Out on your open highways
Under your watchful eyes

You can never say how wounds
Will grow up into dreams
Or how the ground beneath your feet
Is firmer than it seems (cause)

This town was big enough
For the three of us to run around in
Till we were tall enough to ride
With fireworks on the summer nights
While lightning played across the sky
It wasn’t much but it’ll last me till I die

If nature’s brightest gold is our first green
This town will always hold a special place
In the treasury, of my memory (oh)

This town was big enough
For the three of us to run around in
Till we were tall enough to ride
With fireworks on the summer nights
While lightning played across the sky
It wasn’t much but it’ll last me till I die