Life Goes On

July 9, 2018 8:57 PM

The extended interview transcript between John Mellencamp and Jane Pauley is charming and worth reading, across 5 pages.

They also wrote an article distilling the interview, if you'd prefer something shorter.

posted by hippybear (11 comments total)

I finally saw Mellencamp in concert last summer and was really impressed. I kind of expected him to somewhat mail it in, but instead, he messed with the arrangement on just about every one of his tunes and played with the enthusiasm of a 25-year-old still trying to prove he belongs on the stage.
posted by COD at 5:28 AM on July 10, 2018

Yikes. I'm back in the 1980s. John Cougar unspirals from little girls's vinyl. Jane Pauley appears through our rabbit ears. (But it was Charles Kuralt who had that Sunday Morning gig.) I can smell breakfast.

It sounds like Mellancamp turned out OK. We thought he was just a lightweight B-grade rocker back then, and he's been in my blind spot ever since. How's he sound now? I think I'll just go steal a copy and see...
posted by pracowity at 5:34 AM on July 10, 2018

How's he sound now?

Well, more recent than the 80s... "Stones in My Passway" is bluesy and worth hearing. I also like "If I Die Sudden."
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:32 AM on July 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

He walked into Tower Records on 66th St. in NYC when I was working there in the 80s. Seemed like a nice guy - he was chatting with anybody who came up to him. Didn't get to talk to him because I was on bag check.
posted by lagomorphius at 6:41 AM on July 10, 2018

Oh, he and Meshell Ndegeocello do a good Van Morrison 'Wild Nights' cover together.
posted by pracowity at 7:06 AM on July 10, 2018 [2 favorites]

A college friend of mine and I once encountered Mellencamp at a Fuddruckers. Because my friend was an aspiring photographer, he was carrying a professional quality camera and Mellencamp graciously permitted him to take his picture. We used it for a story in the college paper, titled "Mellencamp Visits Fuddruckers."
posted by octobersurprise at 7:46 AM on July 10, 2018 [5 favorites]

John Cougar Melon Camp. These are four words that don't belong together.
posted by w0mbat at 11:50 AM on July 10, 2018

That Johnny Cash story is hilarious. Thanks for this. Great interview.
posted by zarq at 1:41 PM on July 10, 2018

I don't listen to him, he was always Top 40 while on my radar at all, but the guy is a good guy. Even so, I don't think he'd sound like a county fair act if I saw him, and I may only recognize the encores, but I'm sure I'd still have a good time. I could totally have a Garry Shandling-Tom Petty friendship with him. Jane Pauley is just super, too.
posted by rhizome at 1:45 PM on July 10, 2018

JANE PAULEY: But, you know, I deliberately ask that in hopes that you might say that, 'cause you have said that sometimes before, "I'm not interesting." And I wonder if that is just a little bit of the Hoosier thing that you and I have in common.

Huh, Jane Pauley is from Indianapolis. That's neato.
posted by rhizome at 3:13 PM on July 10, 2018

I literally bumped into him in the frozen foods aisle at the Kroger in Bloomington, Indiana when I was a grad student back in 1989. I wasn't even really sure it was him for a second until he smiled. I believe the conversation went like this:

ME: Oh hi, sorry.
HIM: Hey man, sorry.
Aaaaand Scene!
posted by briank at 4:54 PM on July 10, 2018