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John Cougar Mellencamp


A little something about John Cougar Mellencamp
Born John Mellencamp in Indianna in 1951, he was given the name John Cougar by an early manager, Tony DeFries (of David Bowie fame). DeFries tried to turn the young singer into a tough-guy in black leather, the Marlon Brando of the glam rock scene, before Mellencamp tired of the scene and left for home. Keeping the Cougar monicre, Mellencamp traded in the leather for denim, and went for a simpler, more Springsteenesque style. After a few small successes, he landed himself on all the charts in 1982 with his American Fool album. He scored two big hits in the States with "Hurts So Good" and "Jack and Diane," his first (and to date only) number 1. On his next album he was John Cougar Mellencamp, and later he would drop Cougar completely, but the name changes didn't seem to hurt sales any as he put together a string of hits in the 80s, including "Small Town," "Paper in Fire" and "ROCK in the USA." Apart from recording, Mellencamp has dabbled in the visual arts and tried his hand at acting. He was also a key figure in the Farm Aid benefit concerts supporting American farmers

Lyrics featured below: "Hurts so good", "R.o.c.k in the U.S.A" , "Jack and Diane" , "Paper in Fire"

Hurts so good

When I was a young boy,
Said put away those young boy ways
Now that I'm gettin' older, so much older
I love all 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
CHORUS:
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.
Don't have to be so exiting.
Just tryin' to give myself a little bit of fun, yeah.
You always look so invitin'
You ain't as green as  you  are  young
Hey baby, its you.
Come on, girl, now, its you.
Sink your teeth right through my bones, baby.
Let's see what we can do.
Come on and make it
Chorus
I ain't talkin' no big deals
I ain't made no plans myself.
I ain't talkin' no high heels
Maybe we could walk around all day long,
walk around all day long.
Chorus twice
Hey, hey


R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A. They come from the cities And they come from the smaller towns Beat up cars with guitars and drummers Goin crack boom bam Chorus R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A., Yeah, Yeah! Rockin' in the U.S.A. Said goodbye to their families Said goodbye to their friends With pipe dreams in their heads And very little money in their hands Some are black and some are white Ain't to proud to sleep on the floor tonight With the blind faith of Jesus you know that they just might, be Rockin' in the U.S.A. Hey! Voices from nowhere And voices from the larger towns Filled our head full of dreams Turned the world upside down There was Frankie Lyman-Bobby Fuller-Mitch Ryder (They were Rockin') Jackie Wilson-Shangra-las-Young Rascals (They were Rockin') Spotlight on Martha Reeves Let's don't forget James Brown Rockin' in the U.S.A. Rockin' in the U.S.A. Hey! Chorus
Jack and Diane Little ditty about Jack and Diane 2 American kids growin up in the heartland Jacky's gonna be a football star Diane debutante backseat of Jacky's car Suckin' on chili dogs outside the tastee freeze Diane's sittin' on Jacky's lap He's got his hand between her knees Jacky say "Hey Diane lets run off Behind a shady tree" Dribble off those Bobby Brooks Let me do what I please. And Jacky say Oh yeah life goes on Long after the thrill of livin is gone Oh yeay say life goes on Long after the thrill of livin is gone, they walk on Jacky sits back reflects his thoughts for the moment Scratches his head and does his best james dean. Well you know Diane, we oughtta run of the city Diane says "Baby, you aint missin' no-thing" Jacky say a Oh yeah life goes on Long after the thrill of livin is gone Oh yeay say life goes on Long after the thrill of livin is gone, they walk on Gonna let it rock Let it roll Let the Bible Belt come down And Save My soul Hold on to 16 as long as you can Changes come around real soon Make us women and men Little ditty about Jack and Diane Two american kids doing the best they can
Paper in Fire She had a dream And boy it was a good one So she chased after her dream With much desire But when she got too close To her expectations Well the dream burned up Like paper in fire CHORUS Paper in fire Stinkin' up the ashtray Paper in fire Smokin' up the alleyways Who's to say the way A man should spend his days Do you let them smolder Like paper in fire He wanted love With no involvement So he chased the wind That's all his silly life required And the days of vanity Went on forever And he saw his days burn up Like paper in fire CHORUS There is a good life Right across this green field And each generation Stares at it from afar But we keep no check On our appetites So the green fields turn to brown Like paper in fire CHORUS