HOOSIERS, John Cougar Mellencamp & 8th Grade, by Xmastime

Hoosiers and Small Town both came out my 8th grade year of high school, and as a veteran of growing up in a small town I can tell you it's kinda funny that both of them feature lines that very much belie the ACTUAL everyday reality of living in a small town, especially in 1985-86.

HOOSIERS:

I missed knowin' nothing changes, people never change. It makes you feel real solid. I also missed knowing that people's private affairs stay pretty much their own.

First of all, one thing you learn after living in a small town for about 10 minutes is that everybody's business IS what being a small town is all about. If you were crafting a line that would perfectly sum up actual small town life, you'd start with "just about the only thing to do is talk about other people's affairs".

SMALL TOWN:

Yeah, I can be myself here in this small town
And people let me be just what I want to be

I'm pretty sure the small town Mellencamp is lovingly referring to (Seymour, Indiana) really IS like that as long as that thing you want to be happens to be a straight white guy.

I'm not saying the people who wrote these lines are history's greatest monsters, their intentions are obviously good, but would your old pal Xmastime, the ol' Schooner, really let you keep going on living your life without knowing such important things as how funny it is that for some reason these small town sentiments 100% based in Indiana, USA were globally expressed within just a few months of each other? 🤔 🤷‍♂️