Jimmy Somerville 2014 reprise of Smalltown Boy

Beautiful….. Jimmy Sommerville just released this wonderful Smalltown Boy Reprise .
Today marks 30 years since the release of the original which you can also watch at this link:

I was 20 years old in 1984 when this was originally released. I so felt this song deep in my soul. While  a lot of it rings true to my own experience, I was always thankful I was not that Smalltown Boy in the lyrics. While I received my share of  rejection in my youth it was never quite what this boy did, but it could still empathize and feel his pain. Many of my dear friends did get this same rejection that this boy in the lyrics does. I loved those friends and could feel their pain. Listening today to the reprise I cried. The original still brings tears too. But they are tears of strength, tears of hope, tears of gratitude and yet still tears of empathy. We used to dance to the original, yes it’s a disco tune. I still dance to it today, and shed tears at the same time. If I could just hold that young boy from back then, the young boy I was and the young boy my friends were, and tell him what I know today……if only I could. But had I not been through it, some myself and worse through others, I would not be the man I am today.

We have come a long way in the past 30 years. A very long way. But we still have ground to cover as there are still Smalltown Boys (and girls) among us in small towns and in big cities all over the globe. Take a moment, listen to both the original and the reprise. Let it give you strength, let it give you hope…..let it give all of us inspiration to keep moving forward to help lessen the pain and lessen the numbers of the Smalltown boy in these beautiful lyrics.

And yes please, let it move us to dance, cry a little and dance hope!