This week, John Mellencamp joined Willie Nelson for a bluesy rendition of Nelson’s classic song about living the “Night Life.” The two appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert together, commemorating this weekend’s upcoming thirtieth anniversary of Farm Aid, which is being held in Chicago this year.
With some help from Nelson’s guitar Trigger along with Mickey Raphael on harmonica, Mellencamp and Nelson give a nice performance. Nelson wrote the song in the late 1950s when he was playing clubs at night in Texas, struggling to make a living. “Listen to the blues that they’re playin’ / Listen what the blues are sayin’.” The song holds up more than fifty years later. [2019 Update: Unfortunately, the video is not currently available on YouTube.]
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