If you're headin' down the highway
Down about route ten
Get off at the last exit
And take it around the bend
You'll find a small town
But don't go hangin' 'round
'Cause hate lives in a small town
'Least that's what I have found
Moms are in the kitchens
And they're baking pies
They smell so good, they're made to
Cover up the smell of lies
There in a small town
But pies don't cure all ills
And hate lives in a small town
That's why those moms take pills

Well, I went to the big city
And everyone was wearing black
They saw that in my home town
They wouldn't stand for that
I saw kids all covered in tattoos
With mohawks and purple hair
But what really struck me
Was no one seemed to care!
Well, the Knights they beat the Badgers
When they played down on the square
But they saved the biggest beatings
For a kid with longish hair
They're in a small town
That kid was me one year
'Cause hate lives in a small town
Moreso if you seem queer

The pastors in the pulpit
Preaching righteous lies
And the congregation, they don't know
He slept with all their wives
They're in a small town
And it's so plain to see
That hate lives in a small town
As does adultery

I went to the big city
With my clothes in a pack
When I got off at the station
There was no turning back
I met freaks and creeps and weirdos
Loose women and some geeks
And they were the nicest gosh darn people
I could ever hope to meet
When you roll into a small town
They're nice as they can be
But at night they put on sheets
And hang your sad ass from a tree
They're in a small town
Don't dare be different
'Cause hate lives in a small town
Unless you're just like them

If you're living in a small town
And you feel you're in a vice
Just buy yourself a ticket, kid
Just take my advice
And leave the small town
Be quick as you can be
Get out of that small town
And you'll be free like me