In addition to what bocmaxima said, I think the song, aside from Tucson specifics, is primarily bemoaning the itinerant nature of modern life. People leave their home towns ("The young drift alone"), don't establishes roots anywhere and move from town to town chasing better jobs and opportunities ("Numbers roll on in, smiling a lottery grin"), but "It's just a matter of time before they're moving on". We view our communities as opportunities instead of homes. The end result being "chain-store ghost towns", and rootless people chasing prospects "on the lost highway."
The beauty of the song is that we can all relate to it. Those of us from small towns have watched the young and talented leave for opportunities in larger towns, and those from larger towns have experienced these chain-store ghost towns; downtown Tucson as bocmaxima mentioned, or north Austin to cite my own hometown.
In addition to what bocmaxima said, I think the song, aside from Tucson specifics, is primarily bemoaning the itinerant nature of modern life. People leave their home towns ("The young drift alone"), don't establishes roots anywhere and move from town to town chasing better jobs and opportunities ("Numbers roll on in, smiling a lottery grin"), but "It's just a matter of time before they're moving on". We view our communities as opportunities instead of homes. The end result being "chain-store ghost towns", and rootless people chasing prospects "on the lost highway."
The beauty of the song is that we can all relate to it. Those of us from small towns have watched the young and talented leave for opportunities in larger towns, and those from larger towns have experienced these chain-store ghost towns; downtown Tucson as bocmaxima mentioned, or north Austin to cite my own hometown.