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" People in Indiana have known me for 25 years. They've known George Bush four. "
John Mellencamp
Indiana
Me
Years
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" American folk songs were about tragedy, right? They were about suffering and tragedy, and a lot of my songs are about that, even though they were misunderstood. "
John Mellencamp
Right
Tragedy
American
" I don't want to be a politician. I don't like politics. It's petty; it fights dirty. "
John Mellencamp
Like
Dirty
Petty
" A painting has to be beautiful. Even in its grotesqueness. "
John Mellencamp
Painting
Even
Beautiful
" 'Jack & Diane' was originally about race. I was playing nightclubs, and I was seeing new American couples, mixed-race couples. I thought it was cool. The song was my effort to make a song about that, but of course the record-company guy didn't like it. "
John Mellencamp
Cool
American
Thought
" For me to pretend I'm the keeper of the small town mentality or that's all I'm interested in is wrong. "
John Mellencamp
Small
Pretend
Me
" I've just been fortunate to havehad a lot of hit records, though Human Wheels doesn't qualify as a hit record-but it's really the best single I've ever had. "
John Mellencamp
Single
Been
Best
" I couldn't have recorded this record 15 years ago. My voice didn't have the depth to pull these songs off. "
John Mellencamp
Voice
Depth
Off
" Broadway is a very different kind of place. It's kind of like Nashville in that there's a certain amount of people that are involved, and those people are what run it. "
John Mellencamp
Nashville
Place
Run
" In so many musicals today, the story is moved forward by a song. I don't think we're gonna try to do that. "
John Mellencamp
Try
Think
Forward
" All I'm doing is painting. It's my hobby. And that's that. "
John Mellencamp
Hobby
Painting
Doing
" This is not a rock opera. This is not Tommy. I can write songs that emote, and that's it. "
John Mellencamp
Rock
Emote
Write
" I was born with Spina bifida. That's where you have a hole in your spine, and your nerve endings come out. "
John Mellencamp
Hole
Your
You
" Do I think it's OK to fight authority as long as you're only talking about the high school teacher? No. "
John Mellencamp
School
Fight
Long
" This cycle of make a record, tour has been going on for 20 years now. I don't even know why I do it sometimes. Do I need more money? Do I need more platinum and gold records? The only thing I can think of is ego. "
John Mellencamp
Know
Ego
Think
" If I laugh a couple of times a day, I'm doing good. People think it's their God-given right to be happy, and it's just not. It's something you've got to work at. I like to paint the human condition, and the human condition is not smiles and happy people. "
John Mellencamp
Day
Good
Happy
" Oh, I think country has changed tremendously. I think country has totally changed. Country music when I was a kid was Hank Williams. If you put Hank and Elvis together, there wasn't that musical difference. But as the Beatles showed up and the English invasion, I think country music got pretty far away from rock n' roll. "
John Mellencamp
You
Kid
Music
" I want my paintings to look like they were found in a garage. If they get a scratch or a hole in them, it just becomes part of the painting. "
John Mellencamp
Want
Painting
Hole
" There are a lot of actors who try to get records made and try to make record deals, and everybody goes, 'Ugh.' It used to be expected in the entertainment business. I mean look at Sinatra, Bing Crosby. All these guys started out as singers. "
John Mellencamp
Entertainment
Look
Mean
" My task with 'Uh-Huh' was to make a more even record and get away from juvenile topics like 'Hurts So Good.' But I also knew if I wanted to continue, I had to have more hits. "
John Mellencamp
Good
Like
Away
" Wait a minute, guys, I have always been on your side. I have always spoken for you, always tried to put on a good face for the state of Indiana. All of a sudden, some of you people think I'm a bad guy? "
John Mellencamp
You
Wait
Think
" Hanging out is a waste of time. The only time I would hang out was when I was a kid, I would hang out in the streets. But once I started making records, I stopped hanging out. "
John Mellencamp
Kid
Hanging
Time
" When I wrote 'Pink Houses,' nobody was talking about that, right? The next thing I know, you can't see the TV without hearing commercials with 'Listen to the heartbeat of America,' or 'Born the American way.' That whole America thing now - I hate it. "
John Mellencamp
Hate
American
America
" I'm using my art to comment on what I see. You don't have to agree with it. "
John Mellencamp
Comment
I See
See
" Life should never be viewed from the vantage point of achievements. It is total folly. "
John Mellencamp
Folly
Point
Life
" I thought I knew a lot about music. Then you start digging and the deeper you go, the more there is. "
John Mellencamp
Music
Start
Thought
" We could walk 3 minutes and be on the beach. I think the music kind of suffered because of it. It kind of smelled like Jimmy Buffett, which is a bad thing. "
John Mellencamp
Beach
Music
Think
" You cannot expect the guy who drove the car into the ditch to navigate it out of the ditch. You have to put a new driver in the seat. I'm not saying the new driver is going to be any better, but we need a new driver. Kerry is the only choice. "
John Mellencamp
Saying
You
Need
" When politicians use fear, they are playing into the enemy's hand. "
John Mellencamp
Fear
Enemy
Playing
" This is about black people selling out other black people. "
John Mellencamp
Selling
Other
Out
" My best songs come from a place outside myself. "
John Mellencamp
Place
Best
Come