young woman with a child living all alone on a hot night in the summer with the television on goodnight mama says the child from a crib by the tv and the woman washes two plates and cups til they are way past clean and the blue flares of the tv screen heat lightening inside and out oh it gets lonely in a small town when midnight rolls around an old woman at her sewing by a rusty oil stove the snow has covered everything the years have covered love oh they buried him two years ago in six feet of black dirt she lives in just one room now she s still mending his shirts and the white flares of the memories moonlight inside and out oh it gets lonely in a small town when midnight rolls around way out at the edge of town looking at the flat lands you can t help but wonder if he s still got the whole world in his hands oh there seems to be so much more sky every evening and morn and the only song you ever hear is the crickets in the corn and the red flares of the sunset one more day falling down oh it gets lonely in a small town when midnight rolls around yeah it gets lonely in a small town when midnight rolls around