Town Called Malice Town Called Malice "Town Called Malice" is a song recorded by British band the Jam from the album "The Gift". It debuted at number one in the UK Singles Chart in February 1982. The title is a play on the 1950 Nevil Shute novel "A Town Like Alice," although Paul Weller says he had not read the book at the time. It was a double A-side single release featuring "Precious" as the flip side. A 12" version was also available with a live version of "Town Called Malice" backed by an extended version of "Precious". Paul Weller has said that
A Town Like Alice Railway. He had later escaped execution a second time, when his "last meal" of chicken and beer could not be obtained. Crucifixion (or "Haritsuke") was a form of punishment or torture that the Japanese sometimes used against prisoners during the war. The fictional "Willstown" is reportedly based on Burketown and Normanton in Queensland, which Shute visited in 1948. (Burke and Wills were well-known explorers of Australia.) According to the "Oxford English Dictionary", the novel contains the earliest known use of the word "": "He.. made a tight, dicey turn round in the gorge with about a hundred feet to spare."