Ten-Year Town
Greetings Good Folks!
This song was inspired by none-other-than @ElvisNash; comments he'd left now and again here on TSF. I REALLY tried hard on this one to 'mix it up' from verse to climb to chorus to bridge (even) @bhengen but I still suck at it! LOL! 😍
And while there appear to be several "Ten Year Town" songs out there and even a band with the name, I hope I've done my best to make the hook my own.
Heart on my sleeve on this one, but what the hey?!
For a listen ===> https://soundcloud.com/reneelachapelle/ten-year-town
TEN-YEAR TOWN
[Verse 1]
Well, they say that Nashville is a ten-year town
Why I’m stickin’ around is beyond me
Hecklers, I had more than my fair share
Singin’ for empty chairs gets old eventually
[Climb]
And the great songwriters that I once knew
Have gone and many have passed away
And I gotta say this town was fun while she lasted
But I couldn’t make love pay
[Chorus]
Ten-year town
A life sentence of misery
Ten-year town
Made a colossal fool ‘a me
‘Cuz any lover I had
All they did was let my heart down
Paint me a clown
Holed up in this…ten-year town
[Verse 2]
First there was Robert, he showed me around
But his heart belonged to Sue he’d met in Paris
Then there was Ken without a pot to pee in
And Brian left me cryin’, married some gal in Texas
[Climb]
And the great songwriters that I once knew
Have gone and many have passed away
But I gotta say this town was fun while she lasted
But I couldn’t make love pay
[Chorus]
Ten-year town
A life sentence of misery
Ten-year town
Made a colossal fool ‘a me
‘Cuz any lover I had
All they did was let my heart down
Paint me a clown
Holed up in this…ten-year town
[Bridge]
Now, I spend my days a typical tax-slave
My songs, I’ll be taking to my grave
Evenings, I’m thankful, I’ve got a dog to walk
My neighbors, nothin’ but small talk
[Chorus]
Ten-year town
A life sentence of misery
Ten-year town
Made a colossal fool ‘a me
‘Cuz any lover I had
All they did was let my heart down
Paint me a clown
Holed up in this…ten-year town
Ooh-ooh, Ooh-ooh, Ooh-ooh, Ooh-ooh
[Chorus]
Ten-year town
A life sentence of misery
Ten-year town
Made a colossal fool ‘a me
‘Cuz any lover I had
All they did was let my heart down
Paint me a clown
Holed up in this…ten-year town.
© 2025 Renee La Chapelle – All Rights Reserved
Comments
-
@HummerWisdom - Renee, this is a great song, but why is it in general comment section and not the section for lyrics and songs?
1 -
Moved!
I'm not sure how well "ten year town" is known outside the industry. I was unaware of it, though clearly I'm in a different country. It may need a line there to explain or hint at what it means. But maybe not. It's clear that most people only stay there ten years, if not why or where it comes from. You probably know better than I do.
You've got the twin themes of professional success, and romantic success, and that can work, but I think you need to explicitly link them both to 'ten year town'. To me, it felt like an arbitrary jump from talking about the music industry in the verse and climb to talking about love in the chorus. It might be smoother with some sort of linking concept or phrase. Another option would be to write two different songs, one about your fight in the industry and the other about relationships there.
In verse 1 I thought town/around and share/chairs might be stronger rhymes than the ones you were using. But if you did change it there, then you might need to change V2 as well to make them match.
I'm not sure about V2. To a listener the names don't mean much, it's more of a list. And there's just not enough room to go into all the details. Maybe pick 1 and try to talk about what happened rather than cover them all? I will say it shows there was a string of break ups and maybe that's the main message you want.
My favorite part is the chorus, especially the first four lines.
1 -
Yeah I would stick with music songwriting Renee , and not throw love in chorus
Yes 10 year town is a inside phrase
1 -
Useful comments by the guys Renee, worth taking on board. You've got enough material for two songs here.
Pretty decent song nevertheless.
I would be inclined to include more raw descriptive lines in there to illustrate the hurt, pain and rejection you felt.
If a town chews you up an' spits you out, you need to make the listener feel that.
Thanks for sharing, good song.
Sid
1 -
Well, you win some, you lose some. I agree with much of the feedback; mixing the two doesn't work at least the way I've written it.
Thanks, everyone!
Renee
0 -
Love the lyrics, Hummer.
Good song. I've never heard the expression "ten year town" but it makes sense to me. The life expectancy for stardom is a short one.
0 -
10 year town means you got 10 years to make in Nashville , then move back home . Some make it as songwriters or stars1
-
@IronKnee thanks but I'll need to be redoing this song taking into not only consideration of unanimous comments but the way it's being sung as I listened back a few times. Left it up on SoundCloud 'cuz somebody liked it enough to repost it and don't wanna lose that so I need to re-post the song on SC as an edit. Prayerfully, I'll get around to it sooner than later.
Thanks again,
Renee
0
Howdy, Stranger!