"Our Town" is a song used in the film Cars. It was composed by Randy Newman, and performed by James Taylor.
The song is a ballad that recounts the economic decline of the fictional town of Radiator Springs after the construction of Interstate 40.
At the 49th Grammy Awards (given on February 11, 2007) the song won the award for Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media. The same night, Newman's work for Cars won for Music in an Animated Feature Production, at the 34th Annie Awards. The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, but lost to "I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth.
Lyrics[]
Long ago, but not so very long ago,
the world was different. Oh, yes it was.
You settle down, and you build a town and made it there.
And you watch it grow, it was your town.
Time goes by, time brings changes, you change too.
Nothing comes that you can't handle, so on you go.
You never see it coming, when the world caves in on you
On your town, there's nothing you can do.
Main street isn't main street anymore.
Lights don't shine as brightly as they shown before.
To tell the truth, lights don't shine at all.
In our town.
The sun comes up each morning, just like it's always done.
Get up, go to work, and start the day.
You open up for business, that's never gonna come.
As the world roles by, a million miles away.
Main street isn't main street anymore.
No one seems to need us, like they did before.
It's hard to find a reason left to stay.
But it's our town, we love it anyway.
Come what may, it's our town.