The Lonesome Jubilee - John Mellencamp (Jeremy)
I grew up six miles down the road from the house John grew up in on Indiana Highway 11. Me, just north of Jonesville in Bartholomew County, and he just north of Rockford in Jackson County. Of course, he’s 28 ½ years older than me, but as I was becoming aware of music, his musical shadow was a long one in Southern Indiana. Some of my earliest memories are of driving around on the country roads and my folks having a collection of great cassettes in the car: Eliminator (ZZ Top), Learning to Crawl (The Pretenders) and Uh Huh and American Fool by John.
In 1985, when Scarecrow was released, I was 5, but I was aware and I remember getting the cassette for Christmas. By late 1987 though, my musical tastes were beginning to take their own shape beyond what my parents or classmates listened to. I can honestly say I’ve listened to The Joshua Tree and Appetite for Destruction more since they came out in 1987, but I don’t think any of them influenced me the way that The Lonesome Jubilee did.
John was thirty-six when he made this record and he was absolutely at the top of his game. Sure, I wish he’d read some Thomas Sowell books and developed even a basic understanding of economics, but John never beat you over the head with this politics the way some lesser-talented artists do today. The stories, I can personally attest, are true to the people he grew up around and stayed close to his whole life.
Recorded at John’s own Belmont Mall studio in Belmont, Indiana, engineered and mixed by Don Gehman and David Leonard and mastered by Stephen Marcussen, it sounds incredible, even thirty-six years later. Mike Wanchic’s guitar is mostly panned hard left throughout the album, while Lisa Germano’s fiddle plays hard right. Gehman masterfully puts all the other instruments and voices perfectly in place in stereo. Larry Crane’s tasteful licks often coming on the right side as a counter to Mike’s tight rhythm playing. Feturing the legendary Kenny Aranoff on drums and a very under-appreciated Toby Myers on bass, John had an incredible crew (not saying anything of the supremely talented John Cascella, Crystal Taliefero and Pat Peterson).
“Paper in Fire”, whether John would agree or not, is an excellent examination of the false gods we all chase and where they all lead us eventually. The woman’s dream in verse one that she put everything into just to see it go up in flames. The man in verse two who wasted his best years not wanting to be tied down only to find himself alone. And lastly, the third verse who correctly attributes these foolish endeavors to all of us. All of this delivered with a killer melody, driving beat and acoustic instrumentation. Any songwriter wanting to learn how to say more with less, should start their education here.
“Down and Out in Paradise” is a look at what happens too often in a country as wealthy as ours. And, no matter John’s politics, or mine, it happens no matter who is in the White House. This song is more true than any of us should be comfortable with. Furthermore, we don’t take care of each other when it does happen because we’re too worried that it could happen to us to we cling tightly to our purses. The bass line accentuates the uncomfortability (I think I made that word up) of the lyrics and plays off the tension in the voices and percussion. The stories are simple, but honest and cut to the quick.
“Check it Out” is one of my favorite songs of all-time. I have tears welling in my eyes as I type this with the song in my headphones. If you’re middle-aged, or older, and you don’t relate to this, please check your pulse. A simple structure, simple melodies, perfectly delivered, rising and falling with your heart as you listen along… then the break leading into Lisa’s sublime fiddle and the guitars building back to a crescendo before slowing down again. I don’t want to say much more, put on your headphones, close your eyes and listen for yourself.
“The Real Life” is based on a quote from John’s Uncle Joe delivered at a Red Lobster in Bloomington after he had left John’s Aunt Rose. Another middle-aged banger putting the magnifying glass to our lives and whether or not the values we’ve had for most of our lives are the ones we should have.
“Cherry Bomb” is one that I have some mixed emotions about. Maybe I was born too late because by the time I was a teenager in the early 1990s, the innocence was gone. Yes, I’m guilty of being nostalgic for the 90s sometimes, but most of that time, for me, wasn’t a time to look back fondly on.
“We Are the People” is a great example of John writing about class and politics without planting his flag, even if you know where he stands. He’s as left-wing as they come but his fan base is overwhelmingly right-wing or centrist. John is sincere and, unlike Plastic Surgery Disaster Bossman Springsteen, John never lost touch with where he came from. He knows what their issues are and he knows they disagree with him on what the solutions are, but that’s okay by them and it’s okay by John.
The rest of the tracks are solid. John’s never put a perfect record together like Wildflowers by Tom Petty, but by the time he got to Uh Huh his filler was solidly a B to accompany the A+ work of songs like “Check it Out”. And, as usual, Side One was loaded with the classics. You can look at any of his better albums and it’s the same story. Today’s listeners would probably skip these songs, but back in the day, these are good enough you’d listen through to get back to side one instead of fast forwarding back to it.
In spite of our differences, I like John and his music, a lot. Perhaps it is because I can relate to him in our many similarities, or perhaps it’s because, at his best, he’s incapable of being anyone other than who he is. Either way, I don’t think John, or this record in particular, gets their due these days. He never played the game, he always stayed true to himself. It’s one of the things that made him great but those who control the culture like to have their asses kissed and John would never do it. We need more Johns in music these days, things are way too homogenous.
Jeremy