Transcript of Interview:
David Byrne: I noticed that occasionally, you're
going off, throwing some new stuff into what
you're doing, from time to time, like songs on the
last record, "Break Me Off Some"? Is the audience
that knew some of the other stuff following you
into this stuff? Are they saying, "We don't know if
we want to go there." Or they're happy to go there?
John Mellencamp: Well, it all depends, I think
"Break Me Off Some" is the first country rap song.
David Byrne: I think it sounds great.
John Mellencamp:(laughter) I think it's a country
rap song but I have to say, people want John
Mellencamp to be John Mellencamp and I
understand it. I'm very fortunate that I have a song
called "Jack and Diane," I have a song called
"Pink Houses," and these songs get played as much
today as when I wrote them, and that's great, but
it's also a problem because people just heard those
songs.
I never wanted to be the keeper of the small town
even though I care about the small town.
I never wanted to be the spokesman for the worker,
which, I care deeply about them. I always wanted
to talk about what I wanted to talk about and I just
wanted to represent myself. I didn't want to
represent anybody. I didn't want any of that stuff.
So, I know what you're saying. There are people
going, "Are you going to make a record that's like
traditional John Mellencamp this time?" And I
would walk away thinking, "I thought I was." And,
we were good at it. We had a great drummer and
we had these guys -- we could do that.
And there were no countermelodies, there were no
odd rhythms, it was straight, square -- what I mean
square, one, two, three, four -- that was it.
So, when I started adding violins and accordions
doing these countermelodies and stuff, people kind
of went, "Whoa."
David Byrne: I'm fascinated by the fact that while
you were here in New York in the mid '70s you
decided to go back to Bloomington, Indiana.
Rather than staying here or going to LA, as most
people would who were thinking, "Okay, I'm going
to really push hard to be a success in the music
business." Most people would say, "You're going
back to there? That's suicide. You gotta be right in
the center of things."
John Mellencamp: Well, when I came here, I
now it sounds crazy but the best way I can explain
it, and I am proud of it, I was a hillbilly. I didn't fit
here. There wasn't anything that I fit into. I would
see this type of music happening and go, "I don't
get it, I don't understand it." And I was very
immature then, too.
Probably a lot more immature than you were at that
age (laughter) -- I can assure you, no matter how
immature you thought you were, I was maybe three
or four rungs lower. And I think my early records
reflect that. I would come here and I would see
things, and I'd go to Los Angeles and I'd see things
and I'd go, "You know, I don't belong here. I'm not
part of this." And the other side of it was, I don't
really want to be part of this.
When we started, you could swing a cat and hit a
singer/songwriter, there were tons of guys. And I
would just see the trappings of that life, of the 70s,
with the drugs and the clubs and, I got mad coming
over here tonight from my hotel. It was hard
enough work just getting here for me. And then I
gotta come here and do something once I get here?
In Indiana, I get in my car, I drive to where I'm at, I
see people that are common people. There's no
pretense there, there's assholes everywhere you go,
sure. But there, people seem to be a little bit more,
"Hey, how you doin'? What's goin' on?" A little bit
more open, not so judgmental, and the thing I really
disliked about cities was this "hip" thing that goes
on.
I always thought it was so funny, because it was
such a short-lived thing, I said it in one of my
songs. I never had weird hair to get my songs over.
I just never wanted to be part of any of that stuff,
and consequently at least for now, it's kind of
panned out for me. Because who would have
thought? If you listened to my first record you
would think, "Why did this guy even continue?
Why did he even go on?"
But, 25 years later I think I'm a good songwriter. I
may be a lot of things, but I'm very tenacious and
diligent. When I was in cities, I wasn't tenacious
and I wasn't diligent. I fell into the same crap that
everybody else did.
