The song depicts the variation in the American Dream that exists across the United States, while also commenting on the idea that the suburban middle class, fueled by that dream, is responsible for keeping the country running and allowing the country’s most wealthy to flourish. “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, ooh yeah / . . .'Cause the simple man, baby, pays for the thrills / And the bills and the pills that kill us, here in America.” Mellencamp’s reference to “more and more people” taking on white collar jobs in high rises indicates the idea that a college degree can afford one more luxury and better jobs. These positions that are available to people with higher education lead to vacation time, higher wages, and better opportunities which might mean that a college degree is necessary to give one access to the American Dream of better pay, and a better lifestyle. Yet, he goes on to say it’s the “simple man” who is “paying,” implying that a college degree may not be necessary to achieve middle-class status. “Simple men” or people who do not have high formal education but work in trades or as skilled labor, are equally able to afford the lifestyle of the middle class.

Mellencamp has been quoted as saying about his song Pink Houses, “‘It's really an anti-American song. . . The American dream had pretty much proven itself as not working anymore. It was another way for me to sneak something in.’” Mellencamp’s admission about the song offers more support to indicate the contrary. His argument that the American dream has failed most people indicates that there is no need to secure a college degree to obtain a middle-class lifestyle. The dream that a person can go to college, earn a degree, and move up in the world is not necessarily true. Americans believe they need a college degree to be successful, but you can be equally successful as just a “simple man.”