Released: July 27, 1979
Songwriter: John Mellencamp
Producer: Howard Albert Ron Albert
Everything is slower here
Everybody's got a union card
They get up on Sunday and go to church of their choice
Come back home, cook out in the backyard
And they call this the Great Mid-west
Where the cornfields row and flow
They're all five years ahead of their time
Or 25 behind, I just don't know
And all the young men talk about their four wheel drives
How much money they're gonna make on Friday night
And, they like to brag about how they mistreat their girlfriends
Hey, let's get drunk, party it up, start a fight
And they call this the Great Mid-west
Sure make a hell of a car
And the old hearts, they race their way through the night
The upheaval of who they really are
Growin' up under normal conditions
Television and radio
That's just about all of this ol' world
That any of us get to see, get to know
And they call this the Great Mid-west
Where you sacrifice body and soul
No one really wants to get even
Most of us find it hard enough just lettin' go
Don't get me wrong, I ain't complainin'
I ain't braggin' nor do I mean to place blame
That's just the way things are around here
And there's a future carryin' my name on it
Sayin' hey man, you gonna stick around here, you better get on it
If you're gonna stick around here
You better make yourself some real good friends
Well, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth
So I can't talk about the big city high life
But if you wanna talk about bein' bored and runnin' away from yourself
Hell, I can talk to you all night
And they call this the Great Mid-west
Where livin' is just gettin' by
And people trade in their happiness
For a smokestack, a big money deal in the sky
Everybody's got a union card
They get up on Sunday and go to church of their choice
Come back home, cook out in the backyard
And they call this the Great Mid-west
Where the cornfields row and flow
They're all five years ahead of their time
Or 25 behind, I just don't know
And all the young men talk about their four wheel drives
How much money they're gonna make on Friday night
And, they like to brag about how they mistreat their girlfriends
Hey, let's get drunk, party it up, start a fight
And they call this the Great Mid-west
Sure make a hell of a car
And the old hearts, they race their way through the night
The upheaval of who they really are
Growin' up under normal conditions
Television and radio
That's just about all of this ol' world
That any of us get to see, get to know
And they call this the Great Mid-west
Where you sacrifice body and soul
No one really wants to get even
Most of us find it hard enough just lettin' go
Don't get me wrong, I ain't complainin'
I ain't braggin' nor do I mean to place blame
That's just the way things are around here
And there's a future carryin' my name on it
Sayin' hey man, you gonna stick around here, you better get on it
If you're gonna stick around here
You better make yourself some real good friends
Well, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth
So I can't talk about the big city high life
But if you wanna talk about bein' bored and runnin' away from yourself
Hell, I can talk to you all night
And they call this the Great Mid-west
Where livin' is just gettin' by
And people trade in their happiness
For a smokestack, a big money deal in the sky
more tracks from the album
From the album
- John Cougar (1979)
John Mellencamp popular songs
- Jack & Diane
- Pink Houses
- Hurts So Good
- Small Town
- Check It Out
- Authority Song
- Rain on the Scarecrow
- I Need a Lover
- Cherry Bomb
- Nothing’s for Free
- Cold Sweat (Live)
- Wild Night (Acoustic version)
- Crazy Island
- The Face of the Nation
- Days of Farewell
- Get a Leg Up
- Rodeo Clown
- When Margaret Comes to Town
- I Ain’t Ever Satisfied
- Junior
- Just Like You
- Lonely Ol’ Night (live)
- Great Mid-West
- Take Home Pay