Album: Kimono My House (1974)

Charted: 2

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• Zoo time, is she and you time?
  The mammals are your favourite type, and you want her tonight
  Heartbeat, increasing heartbeat
  You hear the thunder of stampeding rhinos, elephants and tacky tigers
  This town ain't big enough for the both of us
  And it ain't me who's gonna leave
  
  Flying, domestic flying
  And when the stewardess is near do not show any fear
  Heartbeat, increasing heartbeat
  You are a khaki-coloured bombardier, it's Hiroshima that you're nearing
  This town ain't big enough for both of us
  And it ain't me who's gonna leave
  
  Daily, except for Sunday
  You dawdle in to the cafe where you meet her each day
  Heartbeat, increasing heartbeat
  As twenty cannibals have hold of you, they need their protein just like you do
  This town ain't big enough for the both of us
  And it ain't me who's gonna leave
  
  Shower, another shower
  You've got to look your best for her and be clean everywhere
  Heartbeat, increasing heartbeat
  The rain is pouring on the foreign town, the bullets cannot cut you down
  This town ain't big enough for the both of us
  And it ain't me who's gonna leave
  
  Census, the latest census
  There'll be more girls who live in town though not enough to go round
  Heartbeat, increasing heartbeat
  You know that this town isn't big enough, not big enough for both of us
  This town isn't big enough, not big enough for both of us
  I ain't gonna leave Writer/s: RON MAEL
  Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 6

• Hendrik Van Oordt from AmsterdamI have a question.
  Looking up the lyrics of this song ("This town...") on Google, the credited writer is not Ron Mael but duo Jerry Foster / Tommy Rocco. This is a bit of a contradiction. Is there are truth to this or what is the reason?
• Dario Western from Brisbane, Queensland, AustraliaI remember seeing them perform it on Top Of The Pops in the UK in 1974. Interestingly enough, they debuted with the song on the show the same day my brother Lee was born (26th April), and he was also influenced by them a bit with his own music and humour as he was growing up, but not to the same extent that I was.
  
  I was a bit freaked by the song the first time I heard it (I was 3 at the time), as I didn't know if Russ was a man or a woman because of his long bushy hair and high pitched voice and could hardly understand a word that he was singing, because of his accent it sounded like he was singing in a foreign language to me. Some years later when reading up about them, I was astonished to find out that they were American because I thought they were either English or at least European. They were nothing like other American bands who were successful at the time, especially in the UK.
  
  They've had heaps of hits since this one, but I get annoyed that a lot of the media seem to only associate them with this song as a 70's nostalgia act which they are most certainly not.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn July 12, 1975, Sparks performed "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" on the Dick Clark ABC-TV network Saturday-afternnoon program 'American Bandstand'...
  The song did not make Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; but the year before on May 26th, 1974 it reached #2 {for 2 weeks} on the United Kingdom's Singles chart, the two weeks it was at #2, the #1 record for both those weeks was "Sugar Baby" by the Rubettes...
  The Sparks, a quintet headed by brothers Ron and Russell Mael, had two records make Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; "Predict", it peaked at #60 in 1982 and "Cool Places" reached #49 in 1983.
• Zappy from Geelong, AustraliaI remember these guys did an In concert special I think it was in 1973. I couldn't beleive my ears. They were amazing.
• Jude from County Derry, --As a member of the Official Sparks fan club way back in 1975, may I just say that the brothers Mael are the greatest, and that is all I will say....
• N from Staten Island, NyYou don't show a US chart position for this song but it was released in the USA on Sparks' "Kimono My House" album in 1974 (Island Records ILPS9272).
  
  It received some airplay on "progressive rock" stations like WNEW in New York City where I heard it.

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