jomel77

<p>"<strong>Small Town</strong>" is a 1985 song written by&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mellencamp" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">John Mellencamp</a>&nbsp;and released on his eighth album&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarecrow_(John_Mellencamp_album)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Scarecrow</em></a>. The song reached #6 on the U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Hot_100" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Billboard</em>&nbsp;Hot 100</a>&nbsp;chart<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Town#cite_note-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[1]</a>&nbsp;and #13 Adult Contemporary.</p><p>Mellencamp wrote the song about his experiences growing up in a small town in&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Indiana</a>, having been born in&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour,_Indiana" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Seymour, Indiana</a>, and living in&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomington,_Indiana" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bloomington, Indiana</a>, which, at the time of the release of the song, was larger. The music video has references to both towns.</p><p>"I wrote that song in the laundry room of my old house," Mellencamp told&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Songwriter" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>American Songwriter</em></a>&nbsp;magazine in 2004. "We had company, and I had to go write the song. And the people upstairs could hear me writing and they were all laughing when I came up. They said, 'You've got to be kidding.' What else can you say about it?"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Town#cite_note-American_Songwriter-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[2]</a>&nbsp;Mellencamp later told&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall_Street_Journal" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>The Wall Street Journal</em></a>&nbsp;that he had written the lyrics using an electronic typewriter that beeped whenever he misspelled a word, which had amused the people listening upstairs; however, they were silenced when he played the song to them.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Town#cite_note-Wall_Street_Journal_June_2016-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[3]</a>&nbsp;In 2013, Mellencamp told&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Stone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Rolling Stone</em></a>, "I wanted to write a song that said, 'You don't have to live in New York or Los Angeles to live a full life or enjoy your life.' I was never one of those guys that grew up and thought, 'I need to get out of here.' It never dawned on me. I just valued having a family and staying close to friends."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Town#cite_note-Rolling_Stone_2013-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[4]</a></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_Box" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Cash Box</em></a>&nbsp;called it "a rocking homage to the small town of the artist’s life and the small towns of America," saying that it is "infectious, meaningful and especially topical."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Town#cite_note-cb-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[5]</a></p>