JOHN MELLENCAMP JACK AND DIANE MOVIE

I mean, someone who picks up a copy of Newsweek, then sits down and writes a song about the troubles in South America - who cares? What's that song telling us that we don't already know? Write about something that matters to people, man.” I try to write about the most insignificant things, really. Coming to terms with failed expectations is what counts. 'Failure's a part of what you're all about anyway. 'Most people don't ever reach their goals, but that's cool, too,” Mellencamp remarked in a 1982 interview with The LA Herald Examiner.

JOHN MELLENCAMP JACK AND DIANE MOVIE

Nevertheless, 'Jack & Diane', written by Mellencamp after he watched the 1961 movie Splendor In The Grass depict the unrequited love of high schoolers Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood, also points out the good times won't last forever - 'Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of livin' is gone.” 'Jack & Diane' evokes a nostalgia for the kind of fun and games he himself experienced during his youth - 'Suckin' on a chili dog outside the Tastee Freeze, Diane's sittin' on Jacky's lap, he's got his hands between her knees.” He currently lives in Bloomington, which is about 40 miles northwest of Seymour. Namely, the industriousness and integrity of rural working class‑life, as inspired by Mellencamp's upbringing in Seymour, Indiana, whose population numbered only about 13,000 people at the time of the song's release. I've been able to live on my whims, that's what Jack and Diane gave me, so I can't hate them too much.”Ī song ostensibly about a high-school couple falling in love, Mellencamp's 1982 hit 'Jack & Diane' - his first and, so far, only US chart topper - espouses the small‑town values with which the no‑nonsense, gravel‑voiced heartland rocker has most closely aligned himself during his 35‑year career.

I've lived the way I wanted to live, sometimes recklessly and stupidly, but still been able to do that.

'Some people probably think there's a place in hell for me because of those two people! But it gave me the keys to do what I want. But for the timely intervention of Mick Ronson, John Cougar's celebrated portrait of small‑town American life might never have existed at all, let alone topped the Billboard Hot 100.Īs much as I am a little weary of those two, I don't know any other two people in rock & roll who are more popular than Jack and Diane,” John Mellencamp (aka John Cougar) told The Sun in 2008.

John mellencamp jack and diane