I don’t mean to get political, but I do get wound up about these kinds of things because so many people see it as it’s really not.
I’m not condoning what Russia did, but that’s bullshit! There’s so many things we’ve done, and then we expect them to apologize when we had a spy plane beside the plane that got shot down! Let’s see the deal as it really was! And the majority of the public is going to fall right in line with the way Reagan wants them to think. It’s like the Russians shooting down that plane, and we want them to apologize. It’s not rah, rah, rah America at all, and I think it puts America in its place. Lawmakers in the State Assembly and Senate have unanimously voted in favor of what would be a first-of-its-kind law, which would limit the use of rappers’ songwriting in court cases. The American dream has pretty much proven itself as not working anymore.” John Mellencamp (223) “It’s saying the American Dream and all that shit is propaganda. California Legislature passes rap lyrics bill. Little pink houses for you and me Theres a young man in a t-shirt Listenin to a rockin rollin station Hes got greasy hair, greasy smile He says, 'Lord this must be my destination.' Cause they told me when I was younger 'Boy youre gonna be president. This one has been misconstrued over the years because of the chorus – it sounds very rah-rah. So I went with that positive route when I wrote this song. I thought, “Wow, is this what life can lead to? Watching the fucking cars go by on the interstate?” Then I imagined he wasn’t isolated, but he was happy. He was sitting on his front lawn in front of a pink house in one of those shitty, cheap lawn chairs. The song is called Empty Hands, from his Lonesome Jubilee album.“I was driving through Indianapolis on Interstate 65 and I saw a black man holding either a dog or a cat. He wrote a song about it, and how incredibly hard it was for them during that time. Back before he hit it big, John and his first wife actually lived in Louisville for several years while he worked for the local power company, LG&E. But John is from Seymour, Indiana which isn’t far from Louisville. (I’m guessing for FarmAid.) But we remember it being so weird a house was being auctioned off related to this song, and it was in our town. I don’t know if the house was built specifically for the promo (it’s in an established neighborhood in Prospect which is a suburb area in the eastern part of the county), or if it was just a new build and was purchased for this auction to raise money. And he looks at her and says, 'Hey darlin, I can remember when. From the promos on tv, to remembering the house being built and painted pink for the promotion. Hes got an interstate runnin through his front yard. I was a little kid in the mid-80’s and my parents in their late 20’s when the promo was going on, but to this day he and I still remember it. My dad grew up in the area, just down the street from where it is. I remember as a kid us driving through the subdivision to look at it.
#LYRICS TO PINK HOUSES PLUS#
The house isn’t pink anymore and I’m sure has been sold in the 30 plus years, but it remained a pale Cadillac pink for years. My dad and I actually drove by it the other night, and we commented on it, because we remember the entire event. The house still stands, and is a two story colonial in a subdivision not far from where I live here in Louisville, Kentucky. What’s ironic about this is that when this song first came out, John did a promotion with MTV, and a literal pink house was auctioned off. During Mellencamp’s set that evening, he invited a special guest to join him on stage–and what followed was the first and only team-up to date between Bruce and John on one of their own songs. At the 1980s-themed benefit concert for The Rainforest Foundation, Bruce and John finally found their moment. Today, “Pink Houses” is considered one of Mellencamp’s greatest songs, and Rolling Stone has enshrined it as #447 on its Greatest Songs of All-Time list.Īnd yet, even though Bruce and John have shared a stage together a few times over the years, they never teamed up on the most likely candidate from John’s catalog. “Pink Houses” has been co-opted by conservative politicians and causes ever since its release its very liberal author had to ask candidates Reagan, Bush, and McCain to kindly cease and desist. In fact, while President Reagan was latching onto Bruce’s “Born in the U.S.A.” during his 1984 reelection campaign, he was also playing “Pink Houses” at his campaign stops. With an anthemic backing track and a rousing chorus, it’s easy to overlook the song’s critical lyrics, which scold America for not being accountable to its ideals. For one thing, it was famously misinterpreted. John Mellencamp’s 1983 single (it peaked at #8 in early 1984) has a lot in common with Bruce’s material at the time. Little pink houses for you and me There's a young man in a t-shirt Listenin' to a rockin' rollin' station He's got greasy hair, greasy smile He says, 'Lord this must be my destination.' 'Cause they told me when I was younger 'Boy you're gonna be president.
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