Everything is slower here, everybody's got a union card

They get up on Sunday, go to church of their choice

Come back home, cook out in the backyard



And they call this the Great Midwest

Where the cornfields row and flow

They're all five years ahead of their time

Or 25 behind, I just don't know



All the young me talk about their 4-wheel drives

And 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 Midwest

Sure make a hell of a car

And the old hearts, they race their way though the night

The upheaval of who they really are



Growin' up under normal conditions, television and radio

That's just about all of this whole world

That any of us get to see, get to know



And they call this the Great Midwest

Where you sacrifice body and soul

And 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 complaining

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 life

But if you wanna talk about bein' bored and runnin' away from yourself

Hell, I talk to you all night



And they call this the Great Midwest

Where livin' is just gettin' by

And people trade in their happiness

For a smokestack, a big money deal in the sky

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