![]() (There’s probably a fine for that, right?) The band returned for “I Always Lie to Strangers,” one of two tracks from his 2022 album “Strictly a One-Eyed Jack,” the tune arranged as a kind of cabaret blues number that delivered the today rare sight of a singer on stage smoking an actual cigarette. “Jack & Diane,” another of Mellencamp’s signature odes to small town life, was also done solo acoustic – with backing vocals by several of his young grandchildren, and eventually the entire theater on the a cappella break: “Oh, let it rock, let it roll, let the bible belt come and save my soul.” “Longest Day,” inspired by more of grandma’s wisdom – “You’re gonna find out real soon that life is short even in it’s longest days,” she told him once – added accordion and a second acoustic guitar to Mellencamp’s acoustic. It, too, featured a simple, direct message in its chorus: “All of these homeless, where do they come from? In this land of plenty, where nothing gets done.” “The Eyes of Portland,” was inspired by an encounter Mellencamp had with a young homeless woman in Oregon several years ago. That winter, Mellencamp received his first Grammy nomination, thanks to his vocal performance on the song.After a few more familiar tunes, including “Human Wheels” and another great feature of fiddler Lisa Germano on “Check It Out,” a short acoustic set delivered the other new tune. ![]() ![]() 1 spot by Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” which was taking the world by storm at the same time. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, only being withheld from the coveted No. Then, they headed twenty miles southwest of Mellencamp’s hometown, Seymour, Indiana, to the small town Medora, Indiana, to film a rousing music video (it was ‘82-MTV was a year old).īy August of 1982, “Hurts So Good” peaked at No. Not too long after, Mellencamp got into Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles with drummer Kenny Aronoff, bassist George “Chocolate” Perry, and guitarists Larry Crane and Mike Wanchic, and the track was immortalized on tape. Then I went and picked up the guitar, and within seconds, I had those chords.” ![]() Speaking years later with American Songwriter’s Paul Zollo, he explained that he and Green “exchanged lines back and forth between each other, and laughed about it at the time. Herald-Examiner that the opening quote from this article came from. “We thought of it as like a Shel Silverstein thing-it was really just a joke,” Mellencamp said in the same 1982 interview with The L.A. With the spark lit, the two immediately pounced on the idea. “I was still dripping wet when I got dressed, walked out of my bedroom, and said to my old songwriting friend George Green, ‘Hey! I just thought of a great chorus.’” “I literally dreamt up that song in the shower in my house in Bloomington,” Mellencamp wrote in the liner notes of The Best That I Could Do (1978-1988).
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