John Mellencamp Archives

John Mellencamp Covers “Welcome to Struggleville” (Pandemic Songs)

John Mellencamp gives his fans a cover of a song “fitting for these times.”

John Mellencamp recently posted on his Facebook page his cover of a Vigilantes of Love song “Welcome to Struggleville.” The singer-songwriter offered a brief explanation: “John played this song because he thought it was fitting for these times.”

Through the 1990s into the early 2000s, Vigilantes of Love was fronted by Bill Mallonee. Although Mallonee never received the fame he deserved, it is cool that Mellencamp recognizes the talent.

And Mellencamp is also correct about how the song fits our times. Although the Vigilantes of Love version of “Welcome to Struggleville” is a rock song, Mellencamp slows things down, making it into a folk song that is almost a dirge. The song paints haunting images, including Biblical characters. And it ends with a dark warning.

They are building a new gallows
For when you show up on the street.
Polishing the electric chair,
They’re gonna give you a front row seat.
Heard a sneer outside the garden;
Salutation so well-heeled: . . . .
‘Welcome all you suckers to Struggleville. ‘

Check out John Mellencamp’s version of “Welcome to Struggleville.”

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John Fogerty and Family Gift Us “Green River” from the Campfire

The Pines at Night (Matthew Ryan) Releases Full Album,”A Year of Novembers”

A “Song for a Hard Year” from The Pines at Night

Cover of the Day: Mo Pitney Sings “If Hollywood Don’t Need You”

Jackson Browne Covers Tom Petty’s “The Waiting”

I’ll See You In My Dreams: Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021

( Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson Put Johnny Cash’s Poetry to Music

Johnny Cash Poems Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson join forces to pay tribute to their late friend and former collaborator Johnny Cash. In “Forever Words / I Still Miss Someone,” Kristofferson and Nelson take a final poem written by Johnny Cash and put it to music.

Cash’s son John Carter Cash explained to Rolling Stone that after his father died in 2003, they found a folder of letters and poems. Johnny Cash wrote the letters and poems in his old age after the death of his wife June Carter Cash.

Among the sad poems was one called “Forever.” The poem is about life going on and recognizing that “the trees that I planted are still young.” Kristofferson and Nelson took the poem to create “Forever Words / I Still Miss Someone.”

The track features Kristofferson’s reading of the poem and Nelson’s guitar. In addition, they added an instrumental track from Cash’s 1958 song “I Still Miss Someone.”

The video below shows Kristofferson and Nelson on the track. And it also includes them talking about their deceased friend and former Highwayman colleague. Check it out.

“Forever Words / I Still Miss Someone” is the lead track on the upcoming album Johnny Cash: Forever Words. The album features Cash’s poetry interpreted musically by friends, family, and other artists, such as John Mellencamp, Rosanne Cash, Elvis Costello, Chris Cornell, Alison Krauss, Carlene Carter, The Jayhawks, and Brad Paisley.

Forever Words hits stores and the Internet on April 6, 2018. An accompanying book, Forever Words: The Unknown Poems, has also been released.

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The First Song Loretta Lynn Ever Wrote

Taxi Driver Music: “The Pilgrim, Chapter 33”

Internet Venom, Toby Keith’s Death, . . . and Grace from Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp Sing “Night Life”

Songs About Homelessness

The First Farm Aid

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

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John Mellencamp’s “Ain’t Even Done With the Night”

I remember going to a John Mellencamp concert back in the late 1980s, when he already had a long catalog of classic songs. As the opening notes of “Ain’t Even Done With the Night” began that night, it reminded me that Mellencamp had hit songs even before “Jack & Diane” swamped the radio airwaves.

“Ain’t Even Done with the Night” appeared on the 1980 album Nothin Matters & What If It Did. Back then, we knew the singer-songwriter as “John Cougar.”

Mellencamp has said some disparaging things about the creation of some of his early albums. But when I first heard him play this song live in the 1980s, he seemed to have a special fondness for this song, one of first hits.

He told a story about how he wrote the song for a girl he knew in high school. Then, when he went back to his high school reunion, he took her to his car to play the song for her. But his old flame continued to talk through the song, so he never got to tell her how the song was for her.

I do not know if his story about the song is true, and I cannot find any verification on the Internet. But I always thing of that story when I hear “Ain’t Even Done With the Night.”

It is one of those songs that seem like they have been around forever. And “Ain’t Even Done” even seems like it is from another era than most of Mellencamp’s other iconic songs, like “Pink Houses.”

Another thing that seems from a different era is this video of “John Cougar” giving a live television performance of “Ain’t Even Done With the Night.” From his band members dancing in pink tuxes, Mellencamp’s own awkward dancing, and the finale that pays homage to James Brown, this video should leave you with a smile.

Were we ever this young?

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John Mellencamp Covers “Welcome to Struggleville” (Pandemic Songs)

Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson Put Johnny Cash’s Poetry to Music

Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp Sing “Night Life”

The First Farm Aid

New Album from John Mellencamp: “Plain Spoken”

Vote Today: This Is Our Country

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

Buy from Amazon

Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp Sing “Night Life”

Nelson Mellencamp

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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Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson Put Johnny Cash’s Poetry to Music

The Saga of Willie Nelson’s Guitar

The First Farm Aid

80 Years of Willie: From Opry Singer to Outlaw to Wizard

When is Mickey Newbury’s “33rd of August”?

That Time Willie Nelson Got a Little Emotional Singing with Leon Russell and Ray Charles

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

The First Farm Aid

On September 22, 1985, the first “Farm Aid” was held in Champaign, Illinois. Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp organized the benefit concert for struggling American farmers. Performers at that concert included a broad range of performers, including Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Hoyt Axton, Don Henley, Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Billy Joel, Waylon Jennings, John Denver, Loretta Lynn, Joni Mitchell, Charley Pride, Sammy Hagar, George Jones, and Lou Reed.

Reportedly, the idea for Farm Aid began when Bob Dylan played at Live Aid earlier in the year in July and suggested some of the money from that concert should go to American farmers. While some — including Live Aid organizer Bob Geldof — were upset that Dylan exploited the stage of a worldwide televised concert in support of African famine relief to focus on Americans, other artists used the comment as inspiration for the Farm Aid concert. And Farm Aid benefit concerts continue to this day.

That September 22 in 1985, the performers did not know that the work would continue for decades. But they joyously sang and played to try to give something back. Below is one of the performances that day in Illinois, featuring Willie Nelson, Arlo Guthrie, and Dottie West singing “City of New Orleans.”

What is your favorite Farm Aid performance? Leave your two cents in the comments.