More Info on SmalltownSimilar Undetermined MusicSearch Artistopia
Biography
Italic titleInfobox Single | Name = Small Town| Cover = JCM - Small Town.jpg| Artist = John Mellencamp|John Cougar Mellencamp | from Album = Scarecrow (John Mellencamp album)|Scarecrow | B-side = "Small Town" (acoustic version)| Released = November 2, 1985| Format = 7"| Recorded = Belmont Mall Studio, April 17, 1985| Genre = Rock music|Rock , roots rock | Length = 3:42| Label = Riva Records | Writer = John Mellencamp | Producer = John Mellencamp , Don Gehman | Certification =| Last single = " Lonely Ol' Night " (1985)| This single = "Small Town" (1985)| Next single = " R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. " (1986) Small Town is a song written by John Mellencamp|John Cougar Mellencamp and released on his 1985 album Scarecrow (John Mellencamp album)|Scarecrow . The song reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.Allmusic|class=album|id=r12911/charts-awards/billboard-single|pure_url=yes
Content
Mellencamp wrote the song about his experiences growing up in a small town in Indiana , having been born in Seymour, Indiana , and living in Bloomington, Indiana , which, at the time of the release of the song, was much smaller. The music video has references to both towns. After that, Mellencamp has been known as champion of "small town America." Citation needed|date=September 2010
In popular culture
On December 16, 1987, Mellencamp played two free concerts in the small town of Chillicothe, Ohio where one-fifth of the population signed a petition asking him to play. He performed at the Ohio University-Chillicothe branch on University Drive. At the time, CNN was the only major news carrier, they were at the event with cameras in hand.
NBA legend and fellow Indiana native Larry Bird used this song on his retirement ceremony in 1993, particularly referring his town French Lick , Indiana as a "small town". It was also used for him in the NBA Superstars video series.
While performing for the NFL Kickoff Special on NBC on September 6, 2007 to celebrate his hometown Indianapolis Colts opening the season after winning Super Bowl XLI , some of the well-known lyrics were changed. "My wife was 13 when I wrote this song" being among the more humorous of lines not in the original. The "L.A. Doll" he sings of in the original version was his then-wife Victoria Granucci.
The song was used as the opening theme to the television movie, The Ryan White Story .
The song was also used as the theme song for the Discovery Times documentary series Off to War , which covered Arkansas Army National Guard soldiers, most of them from rural Clarksville, Arkansas , during their tour of duty in Operation: Iraqi Freedom .
The song is played after Green Bay Packer games.
For a while, it was performed by Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra prior to and in closing the Small Town News sketches featured on Late Show with David Letterman .
Notes
Reflist John Mellencamp Category:1985 singles Category:John Mellencamp songs Category:Songs about the United States Category:Songs written by John Mellencamp Category:Songs produced by Don Gehman
1980s-single-stub
Copyright Citations
This article is licensed under the GNU License
Click here for original article: Smalltown
