Honest Town

Album: Big Music (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • Co-written by Jim Kerr with Iain Cook of Chvrches in late May 2012, this song was penned for the second album by Kerr's side project Lostboy! AKA. When that album was aborted, the song was used for the Simple Minds album Big Music.
  • The lyrics are a dreamlike travelogue through Glasgow's South Side where Kerr grew up. They were inspired by a conversation the frontman had with his mother, Irene, a few days before she passed away of cancer in 2010.

    In our interview with Kerr, he said: "She came up with the words, 'Honest Town.' She said it was an honest town, people were great. And it became the song. So that was a song that was based on quite a sad, but in some ways happy event. She was in a great, great mood, and I'm happy that I got the chance to do it with her."

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