"Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town" is a song by Pearl Jam which appears on their 1993 album Vs. The length of the song's title was a reaction by the band to the fact that most of their songs featured one-word titles. The song is often referred to simply as "Small Town" by the band and their fans. The song was not released as a single, however it still managed to reach number 17 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and is still played on popular rock radio. The song was included on Pearl Jam's greatest hits album, Rearviewmirror: Greatest Hits 1991-2003.
When discussing how he initially came up with the song, Vedder stated that "it was so quick." He elaborated further:
An acoustic version of the song can be found on the "Go" single.
A live version of "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town" was included on the live album Live on Two Legs. This version managed to reach number 21 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1998. Live performances of the song can also be found on the "Dissident"/Live in Atlanta box set and on the live album Live at the Gorge 05/06. A performance of the song is also included on the DVD Live at the Showbox.
The lyric page for the song in the album's liner notes featured a picture of an "elderly woman," but at some point after the first pressings another picture was used in place of the original. Allegedly, the original woman never gave permission for her picture to be used, so Pearl Jam changed the picture to another woman. The difference is easy to spot, as "the new and improved woman behind the counter" is printed below the picture.
