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The Great Suburban Showdown
Streetlife Serenade (1974) |
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This is a video for "The Great Suburban Showdown" featuring clips from the movie "Garden State." "The Great Suburban Showdown" © 1974 Sony Music Entertainment. Garden State © 2004 Fox Searchlight Pictures.
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I've been gone for a while
Made some changes in my style And they say you can't go home anymore "The Great Suburban Showdown" is a somewhat whimsical and wistful take on returning home, or more precisely, dreading returning home. The song would have fit well on the soundtrack to the movie "The Graduate" or more recently "Garden State." This homecoming is to a suburbia where "the streets all look the same" and where fathers "never let the crabgrass grow too high." The singer dreads going back to the suburbs where "we'll all sit around in the kitchen chairs with the TV on and the neighbors there." But it's just a temporary return, he is "only coming home to say goodbye."
It's not quite the anguished statement about suburban angst and ennui that "Captain Jack" was, but it's still a clever and satisfying song. It is another one of Billy's lesser-known tracks that his die-hard fans adore. 
In his seminal photography book "Suburbia" (1973), Bill Owens captures the essence of the suburbs and its people. Owens is a renowned photographer and founder of one of the first brewpubs in California, Buffalo Bill's.
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Flying east on a plane
Drinking all that free champagne I guess I saw this comin' down the line And I know it should be fun But I think I should've packed my gun Got that old suburban showdown in my mind Sit around with the folks Tell the same old tired jokes Bored to death on Sunday afternoon Mom and Dad, me and you And the outdoor barbecue Think I'm gonna hide out in my room I've been gone for a while Made some changes in my style And they say you can't go home anymore Well the streets all look the same And I'll have to play the game We'll all sit around in the kitchen chairs With the TV on and the neighbors there Out in the yard Where my Daddy works so hard He never lets the crabgrass grow too high Oh, the place hasn't changed And that's why I'm gonna feel so strange But I have to face the music by and by I've been gone for a while Made some changes in my style And they say you can't go home anymore Well the streets all look the same And I'll have to play the game We'll all sit around in the kitchen chairs With the TV on and the neighbors there Drive into town When this big bird touches down I'm only comin' home to say goodbye Then I'm gone with the wind And I won't be seen again 'Til that great suburban showdown in the sky 'Til that great suburban showdown in the sky |
Videos
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A rare live performance of "The Great Suburban Showdown" from 1976, live at the Capitol Theater.
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Billy does an unplugged version of "The Great Suburban Showdown" in a Master Class at Lynn University in 2012.
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