DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:
That is FRESH AIR. I am David Bianculli. John Mellencamp has been performing and writing songs for 4 1/2 many years. His hits within the ’80s embrace “Jack & Diane” and “Small City.” At Obama’s inaugural celebration on the Lincoln Memorial, Mellencamp sang his music “Pink Homes,” the one with the chorus, ain’t that America for you and me. His music “This Is Our Nation” first turned well-known when it was utilized in a Chevrolet advert. John Mellencamp is a member of the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame, a Grammy winner and a member of the Songwriters Corridor of Fame. His new album, his twenty fifth, known as “Orpheus Descending,” and it displays on lots of the points going through People as we speak, like huge social inequality and gun violence within the music “Hey God.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HEY GOD”)
JOHN MELLENCAMP: (Singing) Weapons and weapons – are they actually my rights? Legislation was written a very long time in the past. Nobody might think about the sight of so many lifeless on the ground. Hey, God. In case you’re nonetheless there, would you please come down? Hey, God. In case you’re nonetheless there, would you please come down?
BIANCULLI: Terry spoke with John Mellencamp in 2009, when his album known as “Life, Loss of life, Love And Freedom” was launched. This is the opening monitor from that album, a music known as “Longest Day” (ph).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “LONGEST DAYS”)
MELLENCAMP: (Singing) Looks as if as soon as upon a time in the past, I used to be the place I used to be presupposed to be. My imaginative and prescient was true, and my coronary heart was, too. There was no finish to what I might dream. I walked like a hero into the setting solar. Everybody known as out my title. Loss of life, to me, was only a thriller. I used to be too busy elevating up Cain. However nothing lasts without end. The most effective efforts do not all the time pay. Generally you get sick, and you do not get higher. That is when life is brief even in its longest days.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
TERRY GROSS: John Mellencamp, welcome to FRESH AIR. I’ve to say, you realize, I simply wasn’t ready for this music that opens the brand new CD. It is simply a lot about mortality and issues that are not essentially ever going to get higher. After I first began listening to the music, I feel I used to be form of depressed. It was the center of winter, and it actually spoke to me. Generally you actually need songs like this. So thanks for writing it.
MELLENCAMP: Properly, thanks. The music really was – that line – my grandmother lived to be 100 years outdated. And it is a humorous – it is not a humorous ha-ha story, however that is how the road took place. I used to go see her within the afternoons, and generally she’d make me lay in mattress along with her. You recognize, I used to be, like, 45 years outdated or one thing. And my hundred-year-old grandmother – she known as me Buddy. And he or she’d go, Buddy, come and lay down with me. And I would go, OK. So I would lay in mattress along with her, and we might discuss generally. And, you realize, she was nice up till about 99. After which she began getting form of dementia and stuff like that. And one afternoon, I used to be laying in mattress along with her, and he or she mentioned, let’s pray. And I mentioned, OK. And so she begins praying, and he or she says, God, you realize, Buddy and I are prepared to return house. And I went, whoa. Wait a minute.
GROSS: (Laughter).
MELLENCAMP: Grandma, you are prepared to return house. Buddy’s solely 45. He is not prepared. After which she turned to me and checked out me proper within the face. And her face unexpectedly regarded like a little bit lady. And he or she goes, Buddy, life is brief in its longest days. And I all the time remembered that line. And I assumed, effectively, absolutely sometime I am going to be capable to work that line right into a music. And that is how that music began.
GROSS: Now, I imply, you are clearly feeling that music that we simply heard, “Longest Days,” nevertheless it’s additionally nice songcraft. On the threat of form of killing the lyric, let me simply, like, learn just a few strains. (Studying) Nothing lasts without end. Your finest efforts do not all the time pay. Generally you get sick, and you do not get higher. That is why life is brief even in its longest days.
Are you able to discuss a little bit bit about your strategy of writing a music like this? You have been telling us that the primary hook, the life is brief line, mainly got here out of your grandmother, however what about the remainder of it?
MELLENCAMP: Properly, you realize, as I’ve matured as a songwriter, I noticed that if it is on the market, it is mine. You recognize, all the things I see and listen to – I do not care if Shakespeare wrote it or if Tennessee Williams wrote it or if Bob Dylan wrote it or I see it on a sitcom. If I hear phrases, they’re mine. And so I’ll take concepts from anywhere, anyplace, any time. And life has grow to be a music to me. I am all the time searching for a music. After which what occurs is that I am going to sit down, and if I’ve to labor over the music, typically the music shouldn’t be superb.
My finest songs are simply given to me from someplace exterior myself, and I feel it is as a result of I’ve considered a specific matter for thus lengthy that finally, it assembles itself in my head or in heaven, one or the 2 – generally in hell. They usually simply form of come to me, all in a thought. Generally – like, with “Longest Days,” I obtained up one morning, and the music got here to me in a whole thought. All I needed to do was rise up and write it down. There was no laboring about rhymes or melody or any of that stuff. It simply was – there it’s. And when that occurs, you realize, you simply form of obtained to lookup and go, thanks.
GROSS: Proper. Properly, my visitor is John Mellencamp, and his new CD known as “Life, Loss of life, Love And Freedom.” John, you are in your studio, and you’ve got your guitar with you. So I’ll ask you should you might sing one other music pertaining to mortality from the brand new CD. And that is known as “A Journey Again Dwelling.”
MELLENCAMP: (Enjoying guitar, singing) Hey, Jesus. Are you able to give me a journey again house? I have been out right here on this world too lengthy by myself. I will not hassle you no extra should you can simply get me within the door. Hey, Jesus. Are you able to give me a journey again house? After I began out, I used to be so younger and so sturdy. I simply let it roll off my again when issues went flawed. Now it is beginning to get to me, all of this inhumanity. Hey, Jesus. Are you able to give me a journey again house?
GROSS: Thanks. And that is John Mellencamp performing a music from his new CD, “Life, Loss of life, Love And Freedom.” Do you thoughts if I ask what sort of faith you have been introduced up with – like, what church was like if you have been younger?
MELLENCAMP: Properly, my grandmother – again to my grandmother – made certain that I went to church each Sunday. And he or she’d come over and decide us boys up, and we’d go to the Nazarene church. And again then, that was about as near heaven as I ever obtained, as a result of simply the time to have the ability to spend along with her – and he or she was very, very spiritual. However see; you realize, I am in. I do not even fear about it as a result of earlier than she died, she mentioned, hear, buddy. Once you if you die, I will be ready on you, and also you’re in. So I determine, you realize, I do not…
GROSS: (Laughter).
MELLENCAMP: I obtained nothing to do. She’s caring for it for me. So if there’s a heaven, I am in, so I do not even give it some thought, though she did say, buddy, you are going to must cease that cussing (laughter). However aside from that, you realize, if I can simply clear up my language, I am fairly certain I am within the golden gates. So I belief her, and I consider her. And so, yeah, I grew up Nazarene. That is the place I went to church. After which lastly about 17 or 18, I simply form of stop going.
GROSS: And now?
MELLENCAMP: And now – oh, the church would fall down if I walked in.
GROSS: (Laughter).
MELLENCAMP: I am not an enormous advocate of organized American faith.
BIANCULLI: John Mellencamp talking with Terry Gross in 2009. Extra after a break – that is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SMALL TOWN”)
MELLENCAMP: (Singing) Ooh, na na na (ph), yeah. Ooh, na na, yeah.
BIANCULLI: That is FRESH AIR. Let’s get again to Terry’s 2009 interview with John Mellencamp. His new album, his twenty fifth, known as “Orpheus Descending.”
GROSS: This is one other mortality query, should you do not thoughts. You recognize, as I have been saying, there is a bunch of songs on the brand new CD which can be about mortality. You had coronary heart surgical procedure within the…
MELLENCAMP: No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
GROSS: …Within the Nineteen Nineties – proper? – a coronary heart assault.
MELLENCAMP: No, no, no. Yeah.
GROSS: A coronary heart assault within the Nineteen Nineties.
MELLENCAMP: I had a gentle coronary heart assault as a result of I smoke and since I’ve excessive ldl cholesterol. And for 10 years earlier than that, the medical doctors have been telling me, John, you have to get on ldl cholesterol drugs. My reply was all the time the identical. Am I all proper now? They usually’d go, yeah, you are all proper now, however you are heading for catastrophe. OK, effectively, I am going to cope with catastrophe when it will get right here. Properly, it obtained right here. So I’ve nobody guilty or something like that about having a coronary heart malfunction. However I didn’t have open coronary heart surgical procedure or something like that.
GROSS: So this was greater than 10 years in the past, and…
MELLENCAMP: Really, it was 1994.
GROSS: So you were not writing songs like this then, have been you?
MELLENCAMP: Sure, I used to be. I have been writing…
GROSS: You have been?
MELLENCAMP: Yeah. Oh, yeah. See; the issue is, is that music is so – you realize, in the course of the ’80s and the ’70s and – you realize, the songs and the preparations of the songs needed to be a sure approach to get on the radio. And it actually screwed up songs or actually tousled – I have been writing about these items without end. I have been writing about mortality. I have been writing about – you realize, I solely write 4 songs. Come on. I obtained the…
GROSS: (Laughter).
MELLENCAMP: …Similar 4 songs. I simply rewrite them, you realize, 50 instances. However I obtained 4 subjects that I cowl. You recognize, I cowl race, and I cowl what you are calling mortality. After which I, you realize, generally write about women, however I am too outdated to write down about that now. So, you realize, I solely obtained just a few issues I write about. However should you take heed to songs that I’ve written – (singing) some folks ain’t no rattling good – you realize, that music is about mortality. When the partitions come crumbling down – it was concerning the authorities. So as a result of the music and the lightness and the preparations of the music of that point have been of a sure ilk and even obtained worse within the ’90s, the songs, to have the ability to be on the radio, actually needed to tackle a candy-coated enchantment. “Pink Homes” was all the time anti-Reagan, Reaganomics. Individuals love the (singing) ain’t that America.
So, you realize, folks take from songs solely what they wish to hear. And, you realize, I am similar to everyone else. So that you form of obtained to elevate up the veil of loads of songwriters’ songs to actually understand what’s being mentioned.
GROSS: Properly, let’s take, I feel, a wonderful instance of what you are speaking about, which is “This Is Our Nation” (ph). And lots of people know that music from the Chevrolet Silverado advert. And it appears like, you realize, an American anthem if you simply hear…
MELLENCAMP: The refrain.
GROSS: …The refrain.
MELLENCAMP: Proper.
GROSS: However I’ll ask you to sing a verse from it that provides a really completely different impression that one – what folks might need walked away from from the advert. And that is – are you able to do the verse that goes, and there is room sufficient right here for faith to forgive? And, room sufficient right here for science to reside.
MELLENCAMP: (Enjoying guitar, singing) Properly, there’s room sufficient right here…
Let me see if I can do it. (Enjoying guitar, singing) Properly, there’s room sufficient right here for…
I obtained a cigarette in my mouth. Let me take it out.
GROSS: Take it out (laughter).
MELLENCAMP: Maintain on. All proper, right here we go. (Enjoying guitar, singing) Properly, there’s room sufficient right here for science to reside. And there is room sufficient right here for faith to forgive. And attempt to perceive, all of the folks of this land, that is our nation.
Yeah, I feel that, you realize, just because it was my one and solely tv business, that outraged lots of people. And this – what the music is admittedly about was missed. However, you realize, that is – I knew that was going to occur. However I actually had no thought how a lot that music was going to be performed.
GROSS: “This Is Our Nation” is form of like a plea to finish the tradition wars, to be inclusive, to respect one another.
MELLENCAMP: Sure. Sure.
GROSS: Do you are feeling it turned an anthem for one thing else within the minds of many individuals?
MELLENCAMP: Oh, I do not care. I imply, it turned an anthem for Chevrolet, I feel.
GROSS: (Laughter) Proper.
MELLENCAMP: I imply, as a result of that is how they found the music. As a result of they could not uncover the music in the way in which that they found “Pink Homes” or the way in which that they found, you realize, “I Want A Lover.” They – it is unimaginable to, you realize, to find a music that manner.
GROSS: However what went by way of your thoughts when Chevrolet requested you to make use of it? Did you suppose instantly this could be a good suggestion? Did you may have reservations about it?
MELLENCAMP: Oh, hear. I had spoken out in opposition to – I used to be the identical manner that you’re. And I nonetheless do not suppose that an artist ought to must become involved with Wall Avenue on any stage. That is not what I actually do. I do not write songs for commercials. However I did this as a result of I assumed, effectively, maybe they’re proper. I had so many individuals saying, John, you may have turned down fortunes and fortunes of cash, and now’s the time. The music enterprise has modified. No person is – your songs cannot develop from the bottom up anymore. So go from it from a unique angle. So that is what we did. And…
GROSS: And what’d you study from the expertise?
MELLENCAMP: Oh, I realized that an artist should not have to do that. This isn’t what my songs are about. However I additionally realized that Chevrolet was a greater report firm than Columbia.
GROSS: (Laughter) As a result of they obtained your music on the market?
MELLENCAMP: Properly, as a result of – no, as a result of they – sure, that, and – partially, and – however as a result of in addition they – what they mentioned they have been going to do, they did. They stored their phrase.
GROSS: Which was?
MELLENCAMP: Properly, report firms by no means preserve their phrase. That is the purpose of the entire dialog. Report firms say, we will do that, this and this and this, and so they by no means did any of it.
GROSS: Now, I additionally wish to discuss with you about “Pink Homes,” which is the music that John McCain had briefly utilized in his marketing campaign. And we’ll discuss what occurred with that. However play the hook from it so everyone is aware of the music.
MELLENCAMP: Let’s examine how that goes. (Enjoying guitar, singing) Ain’t that America?
OK, right here we go. (Enjoying guitar, singing) Ain’t that America for you and me? Ain’t that America – one thing to see, babe? Ain’t that America? Dwelling of the free, yeah. Little pink homes for you and me.
GROSS: So if you came upon John McCain was utilizing it in his marketing campaign – and you’re a lifelong Democrat – how did you determine to deal with it?
MELLENCAMP: I would not say I am a lifelong Democrat. I am very liberal.
GROSS: OK. Proper.
MELLENCAMP: I am very…
GROSS: You’ll be able to vote no matter you need, however you are very liberal.
MELLENCAMP: I am very liberal, sure.
GROSS: Bought it. Yeah.
MELLENCAMP: I am very liberal. Properly, what occurred was – is that I known as up my publicity man, a man named Bob Merlis. I mentioned – Bob mentioned, you realize, McCain’s utilizing your music. And I mentioned, effectively, he can use it if he needs to, however you most likely ought to write down him a letter and say, you realize, not solely, you realize, that you simply guys are utilizing it, however so is Barack Obama, so is John Edwards, so is Hillary Clinton. And it’s best to perceive that Mellencamp could be very liberal. And do you actually suppose that it is pushing your agenda in the appropriate route? I imply, you are simply actually falling according to all the opposite liberal candidates. Possibly you guys ought to rethink utilizing the music. We did not inform him to not use it. We simply wrote a letter that mentioned, you realize, why do not you guys – you guys would possibly wish to rethink about utilizing this music. They usually stop utilizing it.
GROSS: Once you write songs like “Pink Homes” or “This Is Our Nation” or “R.O.C.Okay. In The USA,” do you suppose, I’ll sit down and write an anthem?
MELLENCAMP: (Laughter) No, not likely as a result of should you hear me play these songs such as you simply heard me, they are not anthems in any respect. They’re folks songs.
GROSS: That is true.
MELLENCAMP: I imply, you realize, like, I simply performed the refrain of “Pink Homes.” That is not an anthem. That is a folks music. However see; that is what I used to be speaking about. And all of the songs that you simply named have been music from the ’80s that needed to be, you realize, dressed up in a sure manner or they weren’t going to be on the radio. If I – like, you realize, I’ll exit on tour, and I’ll play, simply me and the acoustic guitar, and all of those songs tackle an entire completely different feeling or which means if you hear me enjoying on my own as a result of they are not wrapped up within the music of the time. They’re simply songs. I am going to provide you with a superb instance. Maintain on. Hear. (Enjoying guitar, singing) I want a lover that will not drive me loopy. I want a lover that will not drive me mad. I want a lover that will not drive me loopy. I want a lady like one I ain’t by no means had.
It is an entire completely different music.
GROSS: Yeah.
MELLENCAMP: It is an entire completely different music than the music that you simply grew up listening to and, you realize, I grew up enjoying. However that is what the music of the time required. However do not get me flawed, I am not complaining. I used to be very lucky. I had loads of hit data. I am simply saying that, you realize, making an attempt to be an artist contained in the music enterprise has all the time been difficult for me.
BIANCULLI: John Mellencamp talking to Terry Gross in 2009. We’ll hear extra of Terry’s dialog with Mellencamp within the second half of the present. And Justin Chang opinions the brand new Wes Anderson film, “Asteroid Metropolis.” And I am going to evaluation the brand new season of the Netflix anthology collection “Black Mirror.” I am David Bianculli, and that is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE EYES OF PORTLAND”)
MELLENCAMP: (Singing) As I noticed by way of the eyes of Portland someday, there have been so many homeless. They’d all gone astray. They slept on the corners in the course of the day, as to not be harmed when the solar went away. There have been outdated ones and younger ones, white ones and black. They have been all sizes and styles with rags on their backs. So many individuals blended up on this stew with no place to go and nothing to do.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “YOUNG WITHOUT LOVERS”)
MELLENCAMP: (Singing) Higher check out my circle. Higher have a look round. Inform all my buddies. Higher check out the colours of the folks. Younger with out lovers, outdated with out buddies. Higher say a prayer for the poor and unhealthy. Higher sing a music for individuals who do not care. Let the folks have the appropriate to be completely different.
BIANCULLI: That is FRESH AIR. I am David Bianculli, professor of TV research at Rowan College, again with extra of Terry’s interview with John Mellencamp. His new album, “Orpheus Descending,” comes out as we speak. He recorded it along with his Indiana band in his studio close to Bloomington. Mellencamp grew up in Seymour, a small city in Indiana.
GROSS: May you possibly play an excerpt of a music that you simply really feel is, like, in your DNA since you heard it and liked it if you have been younger, both a music that you simply found by yourself or a music out of your father’s assortment that is simply form of in your blood?
MELLENCAMP: Let’s examine. (Enjoying guitar, singing) Come, collect ‘spherical, folks, wherever you roam and admit that the waters round you may have grown. And shortly, you may sink like a stone.
Anyway, my brother had that – introduced that report house in 1963, 1962, no matter 12 months it got here out. And it made an enormous impression on me, that Bob Dylan fella.
GROSS: Yeah, what influence did Dylan have on you if you have been younger?
MELLENCAMP: Properly, I imply, he was the final word songwriter, you realize? I by no means even thought of writing songs till I used to be a lot older, as a result of I used to be a singer in a rock band. You recognize, I used to be in a bar. You keep in mind the mid – early ’70s, mid-’70s. There have been so many rock bars, you realize? And I used to be a type of guys, you realize, enjoying and singing. And there was no motive for me to write down a music as a result of there have been so many stunning songs out. And, you realize, we’d – in a single hand, you realize, I had Bob Dylan. And within the different hand, I had Iggy Pop, you realize? And we’d go from a Dylan music to a Stooges music multi function set.
GROSS: So that you moved from Indiana to New York to get near the report trade.
MELLENCAMP: That is not true.
GROSS: No? OK. Go forward.
MELLENCAMP: No. I moved from Indiana to London.
GROSS: Oh.
MELLENCAMP: And I lived in London in 1977 and ’78. I imply, it is a boring story. It is the identical outdated story you have heard 1,000,000 instances. Anyway, I’m going to New York. And I needed to check out the New York Artwork Scholar League, or I needed to get a report deal. I did not actually care which. I used to be both going to be a painter or a songwriter. For the reason that Artwork Scholar League price some huge cash, that was out as a result of I had no cash. And I went there, and it wasn’t as easy, however I obtained a report deal fairly quickly. After which I made a few data that have been horrible. I used to be managed by the identical man that managed Bowie. And he was – he tried to recreate me into an American David Bowie. It simply did not work. And him and I fought on a regular basis. And that is the place Johnny Cougar got here from and all that.
GROSS: Was that his thought?
MELLENCAMP: Yeah. Yeah, it was a horrible thought. I informed him on the time it was a horrible thought. And naturally, he did not like that. You recognize, he wasn’t going to take that from snappy younger brats comparable to myself, you realize? He was the P.T. Barnum of the entire thing. He created David Bowie and jogged my memory of that on a regular basis. However anyway, so I used to be with him for – you realize, I made a few data with him that have been horrible, horrible, not value listening, not value taking a look at.
After which I met a supervisor who was a shyster. And we – he mentioned, you realize, I can not get a report deal right here in america for you. However should you come to London, I can get one in Europe. So we moved to London. And I lived in London for 2 years. And it was an ideal expertise and eye-opening for – you realize, to maneuver from Seymour, Ind., to London, England, and be residing proper in Chelsea. And the entire punk rock factor was simply beginning to explode, and there I used to be with an acoustic guitar (laughter).
GROSS: Proper. So it was actually exhausting so that you can do away with the Cougar factor; wasn’t it?
MELLENCAMP: Oh, it is nonetheless – it is by no means going. It will by no means go away. I nonetheless stroll down the road and other people will say, hey, Johnny Cougar, you realize? I hear it on a regular basis. Or John Cougar Mellencamp – I will be launched that manner. However, you realize, that is what it was, you realize? I imply, that is what folks, you realize, knew me as at the moment. And that is – you realize, that is simply the destiny. That is – you realize, that is the way in which God handed it out to me. And that is the playing cards I am dealt. And so I cope with it.
GROSS: Now, let me ask you about certainly one of your early hits. And that is “Jack & Diane” from 1982. There’s an ideal line in that. Life goes on even after the fun of residing is gone. Are you able to discuss how that line got here to you?
MELLENCAMP: Properly, really, they’re placing collectively a field set of my songs. And the man producing it, this man is leaving no stone unturned. So he discovered a music that I had written earlier than “Jack & Diane” known as “Jenny At 16” that had a few of the identical strains from “Jack & Diane” in it, that I had deserted that music, “Jenny At 16,” and turned it into “Jack & Diane.” And within the unique writing of “Jack & Diane,” he found that Jack was Black. So even again then, I used to be speaking about interracial issues however for some motive or one other had deserted that concept. So “Jack & Diane” was initially about an interracial couple. However I assume in 1981, I feel, possibly I made a decision possibly this can be a little too – pushing it too far as a result of, you realize, this nation is a reasonably racist place, and so – notably in ’81.
GROSS: Are you able to do just a few bars of “Jack & Diane?”
MELLENCAMP: Yeah. Maintain on. (Enjoying guitar, singing) Just a little ditty about Jack and Diane, two American children rising up within the heartland. Jacky going to be a soccer star. Diane’s debutante backseat of Jacky’s automotive. Sucking on a chili canine exterior the Tastee-Freez, Diane’s sitting on Jacky’s lap, obtained his fingers between her knees. Jacky mentioned, hey, Diane. Let’s run off behind the shady timber. Dribble off these Bobby Brooks, lady. Let me do what I please. Oh, yeah, life goes on lengthy after the fun of residing is gone. Oh, yeah, see; life goes on lengthy after the fun of residing is gone. They stroll on.
That is it.
GROSS: Do you know if you have been writing that that it could be actually good to place in, like, particulars within the music, just like the Tastee-Freez or the chili canine? I imply, like, story writers consider particulars like that. Songwriters do not all the time.
MELLENCAMP: Properly, I do not know, you realize? I do not know. I can say this very crudely to you. Plenty of these songs again then have been not likely written in my thoughts. They have been written, you realize, beneath my belt. They have been songs that have been solely emotional. There was no – I wasn’t refined sufficient to suppose, oh, I ought to put a element in right here, you realize? I used to be – it was – I used to be a man in a band in a bar. And, you realize, I noticed what folks did and partook and what folks did in these bars. I used to be a part of that scene within the Midwest. And it was a – you realize, it was a rough-ass crowd some nights, and a few nights it wasn’t, you realize? In order that’s the place songs like “Lonely All Night time” got here from. Music was a sideline for me at the moment, you realize? All my songs have been written beneath my belt. After which – and as I obtained older, they form of raced as much as my head and have become extra of, you realize, it’s best to take note of what you are writing as a result of individuals are really listening.
GROSS: Can I shut by asking you to do a music that you simply didn’t write that you simply actually love that is by anyone else?
MELLENCAMP: OK, I’ll play a music that I’ve performed at each celebration.
GROSS: Oh, nice. OK.
MELLENCAMP: That – that is my celebration music, you realize, once they hand me a guitar and say, John, play one thing. (Enjoying guitar, singing) All people’s laughing on the Early Chook Cafe. I have been heading there since yesterday, and I consider I’ve misplaced my manner. Charlotte’s there in organdy, and Billy’s there in suede. There’s cash of their pockets. All of the dues are paid. And there is wine on each desk. And there is meals on each plate. Properly, I hope I get there fairly quickly, earlier than it will get too late.
Properly, I ran on down the highway awhile to the opposite aspect of city. My garments have been getting wrinkled, and my socks have been falling down. However I couldn’t cease to tug them up, in worry that I would be late. So I stored on working down the highway till I noticed the gate of the Early Chook Cafe, glowing golden like a solar. All people stored on singing, come on in, we have simply begun.
Properly, I ran proper in, and I sat proper down. And I ordered up some wine. My discuss was quick and intelligent, and the ladies all have been high-quality. Charlotte requested me the place I would been with jade and ivory eyes. And I informed her I would been hung up with some beggar in disguise. Properly, she laughed like temple bells. She kissed me on the cheek and mentioned, you realize, it is exhausting to be alive generally, nevertheless it’s straightforward to be lifeless.
GROSS: You recognize, I really feel like I ought to know that music and I do not. Inform me one thing concerning the music.
MELLENCAMP: It is an outdated folks music. And it was initially recorded by – might need even been written by – a band known as Jerry Hahn Brotherhood, which was a band that I noticed play most likely in 1968, opening up for Frank Zappa and the Moms of Invention. They usually performed that music. And I went, wow.
GROSS: It has been nice to speak with you. I actually admire your doing this. And thanks for enjoying for us. I feel it was simply actually beneficiant of you. I actually admire it.
MELLENCAMP: It was my pleasure.
BIANCULLI: John Mellencamp talking with Terry Gross in 2009. Arising, Justin Chang opinions the brand new Wes Anderson film, “Asteroid Metropolis.” That is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF BOB DYLAN SONG, “WIGWAM”)
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