Lonesome Jubilee

I distinctly recall the afternoon when I bought the John Mellencamp record ‘The Lonesome Jubilee’.

It was released in 1987 and I drove from North Collins to the McKinley Mall and bought the music on a CD. I listened to it on the way back to town and then had a few beers with my buddies, Scott, JC and Jeffy.

I kept thinking about the songs, knowing that I had a lot of work ahead of me in reading the lyrics.

Mellencamp had mentioned that he’d written a lot of it by reviewing Bible verses.

I don’t know what made me think of it yesterday as I drove home from Syracuse, but the music was all there on my phone.

I had ordered it with a couple of clicks.

Would it hold up?

35 years later?

My first thought was that the record was basically a Greatest Hits record with ‘Paper in Fire’, ‘Cherry Bomb’, and ‘Check it Out’.

But there are hidden gems that are among my favorites, ‘Empty Hands’, ‘Hard Times for an Honest Man’ and ‘Real Life.’

Mellencamp was writing about people struggling to live a good life, and the economic challenges that they faced. 

Well-spun tales about Americans trying to survive.

Hell yeah it has held up because not a whole lot has changed!

As a matter of fact, the financial challenges are there for millions more now.

I thought back to 1987.

I was just 22 years old when the record came out. I thought it was an important record that could change the world.

It inspired me to write…

…I was going to write stories that would also lead to a better world.

Life doesn’t work that way. 

I know that now. 

Was way too idealistic back then to understand why a lot of Americans are stuck in a perpetual life of poverty.

As he wrote in ‘Empty Hands’ it wasn’t about a lack of hard work. The narrator in that song works a couple of jobs and his wife takes in some laundry to try and help make ends meet.

The economic challenges a lot of people face isn’t because of a lack of hard work.

The listen yesterday was once again an inspiration, but I felt a twinge of sadness too.

I wondered what Mellencamp might say about it now. Did he believe that record could change the world?

Mellencamp has certainly remained a prolific, consistent artist who has always trumpeted fairness, equality, and has remained a champion for those less fortunate.

‘Lonesome Jubilee’

“Feeling smoldered, like paper in fire.”