But on the sliding ruler, you start pushing it toward time and you realize that 70 summers have come and gone, you don’t want to waste them. When you’re a kid, summers go on forever. I’ve had 70 summers and it’s just a math problem. This record was made half before the pandemic and half during. Mellencamp: That song was written before the pandemic. What prompted this rumination? Did the isolation of the first year of the pandemic play into your songwriting? Q: “Wasted Days” obviously keys in on the passing of time, a theme that seems to run throughout the album.
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I was singing in rock bands and playing in bars when I was 12. I had a motorcycle, my dad was vice president of an electrical firm, I never wanted for money.
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I think I had it a little easier than Bruce as a kid. We come from very similar backgrounds – small towns. He’s a sweet guy, and I think the world of him. Mellencamp: Bruce came to Indiana and stayed at my house. Q: Where did you record these three songs? Maybe I didn’t see it that way, but I do now. He’s been an inspiration and I told him, you made me work harder, I’ve gotta compete with that. But Bruce and I have grown to be almost brothers, and I love the guy. Mellencamp: Bruce and I have known each other since we were kids, but I was always kind of considered the poor man’s Springsteen. What took so long for this collaboration to happen? Question: There is being much made of you and Bruce singing together on a record for the first time, but you’ve known each other for decades. In his conversation with USA TODAY, Mellencamp, who recently canceled his tour because of COVID-19 obstacles (“for the third time,” he says with a sigh), delves into his long relationship with Springsteen, the portentous themes on the new album and the history of the everlasting “Jack & Diane.”
JOHN MELLENCAMP STRICTLY A ONE EYED JACK FULL
The duo romp a little more on the easy swinging “Did You Say Such a Thing,” but also warn “the forecast is severe” on the piano and accordion-laden “A Life Full of Rain.” The album’s first single, “Wasted Days,” finds the pair in a reflective state (“Who’s counting now, these last remaining years / How many minutes do we have here?”). He also enlisted an old friend for a trio of songs, a kindred spirit in wistful storytelling: Bruce Springsteen. “Strictly a One-Eyed Jack” features a dozen songs packed with themes of mortality and dense lyrics, guided by the album’s protagonist, “a dangerous old man” (i.e., the one-eyed Jack, which Mellencamp will further explain).
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On Friday, Mellencamp unveils his first album in five years. Mellencamp also adds a few self-portraits to the mix.John Mellencamp digs into his storytelling talents on his new album, "Strictly a One-Eyed Jack," due Jan. His is not a work that dabbles along the edges it is every bit as strong-willed as the best of the American expressionists no matter the period with which we might make a comparison.”Īmong paintings of everyday people are a few well-known subjects, including Martin Luther King Jr., Marlon Brando, Johnny Cash, and Meg Ryan. Zona.Ī blurb from the forward reads, “The art of John Mellencamp stretches the American brand of expressionism…Free in spirit, his work punches out at us.
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Shirley and Bob Guccione Jr, and a forward written by Dr. John Mellencamp: American Painting and Assembledges is a self-curated book documenting “America’s heart and soul” with an “anti-establishment frown.” The book features 170 original works, essays from David L. Mellencamp never fully left his artistic side behind and is now set to give his large-scale oil portraits to the public. Though both were creative outlets for the Indiana native, music knocked a bit louder, leading him to become the acclaimed singer-songwriter we know today. Before John Mellencamp became a steward of heartland rock, he contemplated pursuing a career as a painter.