[bleudevil]

Yeah, he appears to feel sorry for the guy who's "got an interstate runnin' through his front yard/thinks he's got it so good." Mellencamp's "Small Town" is more conservative - not politically, but socially. It's about the joys of staying put where everybody knows you and "you can breathe." Huge here in the Hoosierland, of course, but being a nomad, I've never felt the emotional impact that others get from it.

[185JHP]

I believe that a lot of people who like the idea of "small towns" haven't lived in one - and a lot of other people have left a rotten large city and like what small towns don't have. I left a town of about 400, didn't look back, and don't want to go back. It's probably good to get far away from your rootplace, because you'll probably develop - and if you go to a serious pace like Texas, you appreciate what's good about it maybe more than the natives. FReegards