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The cool, almost hypnotic guitar riff grabs your attention from the first note. The lyrics are then delivered by a real storyteller:
There's a black man With a black hat (or cat??) Livin' in a black neighborhood He's got a interstate runnin through his front yard you know he thinks he's got it so good.
And there's a woman in the kitchen cleanin' up the evenin' slop and he looks at her and he says "hey darlin' I can remember when you could stop a clock"
But ain't that America for you and me? Ain't that America something to see, baby? Ain't that America, the home of the free, yeah? Little pink houses for you and me.
And then the guitar starts to build on into the next verse
Well there's a young man in a t-shirt listenin' to a rock and roll station. He's got greasy hair and a greasy smile. He says Lord, this must be my destination.
Because they told me when I was younger said boy, you're gonna be president. But just like everything else those old crazy dreams just kinda came and went.
By the time the refrain is repeated again and the solo kicks in, the song is in high gear. The background singer is clearly into it as well. It's a jam at this point. Then they bring it down for the third verse.
Well there's people and more people. What do they know, know, know? Go to work in some high rise And vacation down at the Gulf of Mexico. Oooh yeah.
And there's winners and there's losers. But there ain't no big deal. 'Cause the simple man, baby pays the thrills, and the bills, and the pills that kill.
By the end of the next refrain, and Mellencamp's final "little pink houses, baby, for you and me....oooooooooo" and the final notes on the guitar, the song crescendos to a abrupt and satisfying conclusion.
Great tune, and a great message. I think it fits John Edwards' "two Americas" theme really well. It praises the theory of America, but shows that most of us don't get more than a humble little bit of it. And I think John Edwards, although I don't know if he ever had a greasy smile, could be the "young man in a T-shirt" in verse two. Not any more, of course, but once upon a time in Robbins, North Carolina I could see it.
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