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John Mellencamp - Crumblin' Down

John Mellencamp - Crumblin' Down Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Uh-Huh
Released: 1983

Crumblin' Down Lyrics

Some people ain't no damn good
You can't trust 'em, you can't love em
No good deed goes unpunished
And I don't mind being their whipping boy
I've had that pleasure for years and years
No, no I never was a sinner-tell me what else can I do
Second best is what you get-till you learn to bend this rules
Time respects no person-what you lift up must fall
They're waiting outside-to claim my crumblin' walls

Saw my picture in the paper
Read the news around my face
And now some people
Don't want to treat me the same

When the walls come tumblin' down
When the walls come crumblin' crumblin'
When the walls come tumblin' tumblin' down

Some people say I'm obnoxious and lazy
That I'm uneducated and my opinion means nothin'
But I know I'm a real good dancer
Don't need to look over my shoulder to see what I'm after
Everybody's got their problems-ain't no new news here
I'm the same old trouble you've been having for years
Don't confuse the problem with the issue, girl,
'Cause it's perfectly clear

Just a human desire to have you come near
Want to put my arms around you
Feel your breath in my ear
You can bend me, you can break me
But you better stand clear

When the walls come tumblin' down
When the walls come crumblin' crumblin'
When the walls come tumblin' tumblin' down

Writer/s: MELLENCAMP, JOHN / GREEN, GEORGE
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Crumblin' Down

Mellencamp describes this as a "political song." He told Rolling Stone in 2013: "Reagan was president - he was deregulating everything and the walls were crumbling down on the poor. the song was the last one recorded and the first single. It was a hit immediately. I felt like I was pulling the wool over everyone's eyes."

This is one of several songs Mellencamp wrote with the songwriter George Green, who was a childhood friend. Green also co-wrote "Hurts So Good," "Rain On The Scarecrow" and "Human Wheels."

John Mellencamp - Women Seem

John Mellencamp - Women Seem Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Cuttin' Heads
Released: 2001

Women Seem Lyrics

Women Seem

The Kinks' frontman Ray Davies provided the impetus for this song: "That's just me plagiarizing Ray Davies," Mellencamp admitted in the liner notes for the On The Rural Route 7609 box set: "Don't forget, I did something like 150 shows with the Kinks over a three-year period, and everything I've learned about being a live performer is from Ray."

John Mellencamp - Rural Route

John Mellencamp - Rural Route Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Freedom's Road
Released: 2007

Rural Route Lyrics

Little girl disappeared and gone
From the Rural Route
Seven days missing something's wrong
On the rural route
Amber alert all over the nation
From the rural route
Two lane highway full of cops
On the rural route
Rural route

Police dogs howl from wire cages
On the rural route
Last seen leavin' a trailer
On the rural route
Just walkin' home alone
On the rural route
Newspaper prints her fifth grade picture
From the rural route
Rural route

Air stinks of crystal meth
On the rural route
Some one predicts a young girl's death
On the rural route
Father refuses to answer any questions
From the rural route
The man he runs around with comes up missing
Off the rural route
Rural route

Twenty miles away by a lake
On the rural route
Girl's body's found, it's been raped
By the rural route
Twenty-eight year old friend of the father
Arrested on the rural route
Father traded his daughter for favors
On the rural route
Rural route
Rural route

Here's my prayer loud and clear
From the rural route
Forgive us Lord, get us out of here
Off this rural route
Oh merciful Father, show us the will
Here on the rural route
Give us the mercy for the drug-addicted
And the mentally ill
On the rural route

Writer/s: MELLENCAMP
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Rural Route

Speaking with Rolling Stone contributor Anthony DeCurtis, Mellencamp explained the song originated with, "a phone call from my mother, who said that the body of a 10-year-old girl who'd been raped and killed had been found not far from where my parents live."

The last verse, he added, "prays for forgiveness, because nobody could have done such a gruesome thing if they had been in their right mind. When you live out here in the middle of nowhere, it's easy to get lost."

John Mellencamp - Between a Laugh and a Tear

John Mellencamp - Between a Laugh and a Tear Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Scarecrow
Released: 1985

Between a Laugh and a Tear Lyrics

When paradise is no longer fit for you to live in
And your adolescent dreams are gone
Through the days you feel a little used up
And you don't know where your energy's gone wrong
It's just your soul feelin' a little downhearted
Sometimes life is too ridiculous to live
You count your friends all on one finger
I know it sounds crazy just the way that we live

Between a Laugh and a Tear
Smile in the mirror as you walk by
Between a laugh and a tear
And that's as good as it can get for us
And there ain't no reason to stop tryin'

When this cardboard town can no longer amuse you
You see through everything and nothin' seems worthwhile
And hypocrite used to be such a big word to you
And it don't seem to mean anything to you now
Just try to live each and every precious moment
Don't be discouraged by the future forget the past
That's old advise but it'll be good to you
I know there's a balance see it when I swing past

Between a laugh and a tear
Smile in the mirror as you walk by
Between a laugh and a tear
And that's as good as it can get for us
And there ain't no reason to stop tryin'

Between a laugh and a tear
Smile in the mirror as you walk by
Between a laugh and a tear
And that's as good as it can get for us
And there ain't no reason to stop tryin'

When paradise can no longer amuse you

Writer/s: MELLENCAMP, JOHN
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Between a Laugh and a Tear

Scarecrow was Mellencamp's eighth album, and by then he had paid his dues and become one of the most successful musicians in America. Despite his triumphs, he was going through severe emotional difficulties at the time, including a panic disorder. In this song, he explores that dichotomy - how success can simply amplify your emotions, both good and bad.

Mellencamp has a notorious temper, which he says is the result of a condition he suffered from as a child: spina bifida. "I had a hole in my spine and all my nerve endings were on the outside of my body," he told Rolling Stone. "They were all exposed to air, so it's no wonder I go up and down so quickly."

John Mellencamp - Pop Singer

John Mellencamp - Pop Singer Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Big Daddy
Released: 1989

Pop Singer Lyrics

Never wanted to be no Pop Singer,
Never wanted to write no pop songs.
Never had no weird hair to get my songs over.
Never wanted to hang out after the show.
Pop singer writing of pop songs.

Never wanted to have my picture taken.
Now, who would want to look into these eyes?
Just want to make it real - good, bad or indifferent.
That's the way that I live and that's the way that I'll die
As a pop singer of pop songs.

Pop singer, writing of pop song.

Never wanted to be no pop singer,
Never want to write no pop songs.
Never wanted to have a manager over for dinner.
Never wanted to hang out after the show.

Pop singer, writing pop songs.
Never wanted to be no pop singer, of pop songs.
A pop singer.
Never wanted to write no pop songs.

Writer/s: Mellencamp, John
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Pop Singer

"The most crucial thing for me is that I want it to be real."

That's what Mellencamp told Creem magazine in 1987. Two years later, he released a song about it. In "Pop Singer," he explains that the music is what is important to him, and that he has no use for the gladhanding, trend-following or fan interaction that is expected of Pop Stars.

Mellencamp wasn't always so "real" - his manager had him use the stage name "Johnny Cougar," which took him years to reverse. He soon took control of his career, however, and did things on his terms. Any part of the job that isn't related to making or performing music is something Mellencamp avoids. He will begrudgingly do promotion, but refuses corporate music traditions like radio station concerts and meet-and-greets. This stance didn't endear him to industry types, but many fans found his candor refreshing and appreciated his authenticity and devotion to his craft.

When he wrote this song, Mellencamp was going through a divorce with his second wife, Victoria Granucci. "I was questioning the importance of music," he told Rolling Stone. "Everybody was having to kiss everybody's ass. If you want to be on MTV, then come here and do this. All these backroom deals were getting made. I was like, 'I don't want any part of this.'"

John Mellencamp - Rain On The Scarecrow

John Mellencamp - Rain On The Scarecrow Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Scarecrow
Released: 1985

Rain On The Scarecrow Lyrics

Scarecrow on a wooden cross blackbird in the barn
Four hundred empty acres that used to be my farm
I grew up like my daddy did my grandpa cleared this land
When I was five I walked the fence while grandpa held my hand

[Chorus]
Rain On The Scarecrow blood on the plow
This land fed a nation this land made me proud
And son I'm just sorry theres no legacy for you now
Rain on the scarecrow blood on the plow
Rain on the scarecrow blood on the plow

The crops we grew last summer weren't enough to pay the loans
Couldn't buy the seed to plant this spring and the farmers bank foreclosed
Called my old friend schepman up to auction off the land
He said john its just my job and I hope you understand
Hey calling it your job ol hoss sure dont make it right
But if you want me to Ill say a prayer for your soul tonight
And grandmas on the front porch swing with a
Bible in her hand Sometimes I hear her singing take me to the promised land
When you take away a mans dignity he cant work his fields and cows

There'll be blood on the scarecrow blood on the plow
Blood on the scarecrow blood on the plow

Well there's ninety-seven crosses planted in the courthouse yard
Ninety-seven families who lost ninety-seven farms
I think about my grandpa and my neighbors and my name and some nights
I feel like dying like that scarecrow in the rain

[Chorus]

Rain on the scarecrow blood on the plow
This land fed a nation this land made me so proud
And son I'm just sorry they're just memories for you now
Rain on the scarecrow blood on the plow
Rain on the scarecrow blood on the plow

Writer/s: Mellencamp, John / Green, George Michael
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Rain On The Scarecrow

This song is about the financial difficulties farmers in the Midwest US face; difficulties that can go as far as having their farms repossessed by banks. Mellencamp wrote the song with his friend George Green, who he worked with on many of this tracks, including "Hurts So Good."

"Our songs always came about the same way: talk around the kitchen table," Mellencamp told Rolling Stone. "I had just played 'Small Town' for him. He said, "I don't know why these towns are going out of business" - towns like Freetown and Dudleytown, Indiana. We couldn't figure out why they were disappearing. We did our research and wrote this song - Reagan had been using grain against the Soviet Union and all sorts of other things. Talking to people was heartbreaking. Nobody wanted to lose their farm."

Mellencamp has taken an active role in helping American farmers. Along with Neil Young and Willie Nelson, he regularly plays at the Farm-Aid concerts to help raise money.

John Mellencamp - Hurts So Good

John Mellencamp - Hurts So Good Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: American Fool
Released: 1982

Hurts So Good Lyrics

When I was a young boy,
Said put away those young boy ways
Now that I'm getting' older, so much older
I long for those young boy days
With a girl like you
With a girl like you
Lord knows there are things we can do, baby
Just me and you
Come on and make it a

Hurt so good
Come on baby make it hurt so good
Sometimes love don't feel like it should
You make it, hurt so good

You don't have to be so exciting
Just trying to give myself a little bit of fun, yeah
You always look so inviting
You ain't as green as you are young
Hey baby it's you
Come on girl now it's you
Sink your teeth right through my bones, baby
Let's see what we can do
Come on and make it a

Hurt so good
Come on baby make it hurt so good
Sometimes love don't feel like it should
You make it hurt so good

I ain't talking no big deals
I ain't made no plans myself
I ain't talking no high heels
Maybe we could walk around, all day long,
Walk around, all day long

Hurt so good
Come on baby make it hurt so good
Sometimes love don't feel like it should
You make it hurt so good
Hurt so good, come baby now
Come on baby make it hurt so good
Sometimes love don't feel like it should
You make it hurt so good

Hey, hey

Writer/s: MELLENCAMP, JOHN / GREEN, GEORGE
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Hurts So Good Song Chart

Mellencamp claims he wrote this song as "a goof." In a 1982 interview with The L.A. Herald Examiner, he explained: "My friend George said, why didn't I write a song with the title 'Hurt So Good'? We thought of it as like a Shel Silverstein thing. I wrote it in three minutes, scrawled the first line in soap on the glass door in the shower. It was really just a joke. I think all good things probably started as jokes. Wasn't God having a laugh when he made this whole place?"

Mellencamp's friend was George Green, who received a composer credit on this song and went on to co-write many of Mellencamp's hits, including "Human Wheels," "Crumblin' Down" and "Rain On The Scarecrow."

When this was released, Mellencamp was still known as Johnny Cougar, the name his manager gave him. American Fool was the last album he released without the Mellencamp.

Mellencamp once owned a tattoo parlor. This led to many family members getting tattoos they wouldn't have otherwise asked for, like the "Hurts So Good" tattoo on his aunt.

Mellencamp won his first Grammy with this song: Best Male Rock Vocal Performance of 1982. In his acceptance speech he said, "I don't know what to say, I'm just an idiot."

This is a popular song among masochists. It is not truly about S&M, but probably as close as any popular song has gotten.

Mellencamp was in danger of being dropped by his record label if this album didn't sell, so he did his best to write some hit songs for it. The label, Mercury Records, didn't think it would sell but were proven very wrong.

Back when he was a rapper known as Marky Mark, Mark Wahlberg wanted to turn this into a rap song, but Mellencamp would not allow it.

John Mellencamp - Peaceful World

John Mellencamp - Peaceful World Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Cuttin' Heads
Released: 2001

Peaceful World Lyrics

Come on baby take a ride with me
I'm up from Indiana down to Tennessee
Everything is as cool as can be
In a Peaceful World

People know this world is a wreck
We're sick and tired of being politically correct
If I see through it now but I didn't at first
The hypocrites made it worse and worse
Lookin' down their noses at what people say
These are just words and words are okay
It's what you do and not what you say
If you're not part of the future then get out of the way

Come on baby take a ride with me
I'm up from Indiana down to Tennessee
Everything is cool as can be
In a peaceful world

Racism lives in the USA today
Better get hip to what Martin Luther King had to say
I don't want my kids being brought up this way
Hatred to each other is not okay
Well I'm not a preacher just a singer son
But I can see more work to be done
It's what you do and not what you say
If you're not part of the future then get out of the way

Come on baby take a ride with me
I'm up from Indiana down to Tennessee
Everything is cool as can be
In a peaceful world

The money's good and the work is okay
Looks like everything is rollin our way
"Til you gotta look the devil in the eye
You know that bastard's one big lie
So be careful with your heart and what you love
Make sure that it was sent from above
It's what you do and not what you say
If you're not part of the future then get out of the way

Come on baby take a ride with me
I'm up from Indiana down to Tennessee
Everything is cool as can be
In a peaceful world

Lay back the top and ride with me
I'm up from Indiana down to Tennessee
Everything is cool as can be
In a peaceful world

Hey yeah
Hey yeah
Hey yeah
Hey yeah

Writer/s: MELLENCAMP, JOHN
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Peaceful World Song Chart

This is a duet with the female Soul singer India.Arie, whose career was just getting started. She flew to Bloomington, Indiana to record this with Mellencamp after appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in Chicago to promote her first album, Acoustic Soul.

The song deals with issues of race. Mellencamp has often brought up the subject, including in lyrics about a black man in "Pink Houses," and a white girl dancing with a black man in the video for "Cherry Bomb." In "Peaceful World," the message is much more overt, as India.Arie sings: "Racism lives in the US today."

The song was first played during the 2001 Indy 500 in a commercial for the Indy Racing League (IRL). India.Arie was not on the version in the commercial.

It became the official song of the Indy Racing League. Mellencamp's wife, model Elaine Irwin-Mellencamp, was a spokeswoman for the racing league.

This was released about a month before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in America. With members of his band singing some of the lines with him, Mellencamp performed the song at the 2001 "Concert For New York," a benefit for victims of the World Trade Center disaster. The song fit the mood of the country at the time, as it explores some of the problems America faces in the verses but resolves with a hopeful chorus: "Everything is cool as can be in a peaceful world."

Mellencamp contributed a live, acoustic version of this to the Columbia Records compilation CD God Bless America, which was released as a benefit for the Twin Towers Fund.

The song got decent airplay, but could only bubble under on the Hot 100, peaking at #104. Mellencamp attributed this poor chart showing to a lack of promotion by his label, Columbia Records, and to a bias against older artists in the industry. In the '80s, most of Mellencamp's singles became at least minor hits, but by the '00s he found himself out of favor in the industry, even though he felt he was doing some of his best work. For his 2006 single "Our Country," he allowed the song to be used in a car commercial as a way of getting it heard, since he knew radio stations would ignore it.