Small towns are definitely what you make of them - if you live in a town, well even if you live in the city, if youre not involved in the community, and if you dont have friends and family and people you love and care about there then chances are youre gonna hate it and want to get out. then it becomes a whole 'the grass is greener on the other side' which is a situation its very easy to find yourself in, i know i'm feeling that now... its very easy to blame an entire town and the people in it... but yeah so evidently the city will provide more opportunity, especially nowadays, but you wont necessarily be happier. which is not really the message of this song, its not really comparing the city to the small town, its just mellencamp's reflection on his roots really...probably more simple than i think. but you can never be quite sure with songwriters, they tend to have a hidden meaning in many of their songs, or little clues that suggest that the song holds deeper meaning for them.
Small towns are definitely what you make of them - if you live in a town, well even if you live in the city, if youre not involved in the community, and if you dont have friends and family and people you love and care about there then chances are youre gonna hate it and want to get out. then it becomes a whole 'the grass is greener on the other side' which is a situation its very easy to find yourself in, i know i'm feeling that now... its very easy to blame an entire town and the people in it... but yeah so evidently the city will provide more opportunity, especially nowadays, but you wont necessarily be happier. which is not really the message of this song, its not really comparing the city to the small town, its just mellencamp's reflection on his roots really...probably more simple than i think. but you can never be quite sure with songwriters, they tend to have a hidden meaning in many of their songs, or little clues that suggest that the song holds deeper meaning for them.