"Little Man" is a song written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Alan Jackson Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for blending traditional honky-tonk and mainstream country pop sounds (for a style widely regarded as "neotraditional country"), as well as penning many o ...

. It was released in May 1999 as the fourth and final single from his album ''

High Mileage ''High Mileage'' is the seventh studio album by American country music artist Alan Jackson. It was released on September 1, 1998, and produced four hit singles on the Hot Country Songs charts for Jackson: "I'll Go on Loving You" (#3), "Right on ...

''. The song topped at number three on the U.S. ''Billboard''

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts, and four on the Canadian ''RPM'' Country Tracks chart.RPM Volume 69 Number 24 October 4, 1999
/ref> It was also Jackson's first single to reach the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #39.

Content

The song is about

small business Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have fewer employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being able to ap ...

es that struggled to compete against

big business Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly kn ...

es, such as

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

s, but did not make it, referring to them as "the little man". The narrator tells about his memories as he looks at the storefronts of abandoned businesses that went under. "''I go back now and the stores are empty/ Except an old Coke sign dated 1950/ Boarded up like they never existed."''

Music video

The music video was shot entirely in black and white. It starts out with Jackson talking about his inspiration for writing the song before going into the actual video of the song. Jackson tells of a trip he took through random small towns where he saw many closed small businesses. Many of the places he visited he had been to as a child, and he realized how much they'd changed. The video was shot in the small towns of

Lascassas, Tennessee Lascassas (also Las Casas or Las Cassas) is an unincorporated community in Rutherford County, Tennessee, near the city of Murfreesboro. Its geographic coordinates are 35°55'49"N, 86°17'28"W. The ZIP Code for Lascassas is 37085. The community's ...

Jasper, Florida Jasper is a city in northern Florida and is the county seat of Hamilton County, Florida, United States. The population was 4,546 at the 2010 census, up from 1,780 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Hamilton County. The Old Hamilton Co ...

White Springs, Florida White Springs is a town in Hamilton County, Florida, Hamilton County, Florida, United States, on the Suwannee River. The population was 777 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, down from 819 at the 2000 census. Home of the annual Florid ...

and

Pavo, Georgia Pavo is a city that is divided by the county line between Brooks and Thomas counties in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is part of the Valdosta, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 627 at the 2010 census. The city is home to a ...

. Most of the video shows Alan driving down the main street waving at the townspeople. It was directed by Steven Goldmann.

Chart positions

"Little Man" debuted at number 68 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

) charts dated for the week ending May 29, 1999.

Year-end charts

References

External links

* {{authority control 1999 singles 1998 songs Alan Jackson songs Songs written by Alan Jackson Music videos directed by Steven Goldmann Song recordings produced by Keith Stegall Arista Nashville singles Black-and-white music videos