[1][4][5] In a four-star review of Words & Music, Rolling Stone critic David Wild called the song "encouragingly vital".

[5] Bessman, in a review for Billboard, pointed to the song as evidence that Mellencamp "has managed to remain current for a quarter-century".

[6][7][8] On the Adult Alternative Airplay chart, it became his sixth top five hit, as well as his first since 2001's "Peaceful World" with India Arie.

[8] During a concert in July 2006, former vice president Dan Quayle walked out as Mellencamp performed the song after he introduced it as being for "those being ignored by the current administration.

"[10] A music video for the song, directed by Chris Milk and produced by Gina Leonard, was filmed in Hanford, California, in September 2004.

[11] The video, shot mostly in black and white, has been described as a "period piece against prejudice", set in an alternative 1950s where discrimination takes place because of height, rather than race.