WEBVTT - John Mellencamp 0:00:01.280 --> 0:00:06.280 Welcome to iHeartRadio Icons featuring John Mellencamp and a very 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:09.200 special music event live from his Bell Mount Mall studio 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:09.920 in Indiana. 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:12.600 Now here's your host, Jim Kerr. 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:17.439 Well, this is certainly the most unique of our. 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:19.079 Special Icons broadcast. 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:21.560 We've done a lot of them through the years, but 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:23.720 never won quite as special as this. 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:24.840 We are in. 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:28.960 John Mellencamp's home studio with his band and with a 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:32.000 group of his friends, and you are about to experience 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:37.000 an absolutely amazing hour. First, let's introduce John Mellencamp. 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:39.960 How you doing, Jim, how you been doing doing fine? 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:43.040 Thank you for inviting us to your home studio outside 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:46.680 of Bloomington, Indiana. It's only twenty two days into the 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:48.640 new year, but you've been very busy. 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:50.120 You announced your new tour. 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:54.000 It's called Dancing Worlds the Greatest Hits. You're going to 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:57.400 play nineteen US cities in July and August. And what 0:00:57.560 --> 0:00:59.400 makes this tour unique is the fact that it's the 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:02.360 first time in seventeen years that not only are you 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:06.640 playing amphitheaters, but you'll also be concentrating on some of 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:09.240 your biggest hits, including songs you haven't played for a 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:10.119 long time, like. 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:12.120 I'll be playing ninety A Lover and a bunch of 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:13.600 songs like that. Are we on the air? 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:14.440 Yes we are. 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:19.400 Oh great, Hello everybody, Hello everybody? 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:22.240 Yeah good, Thank you for inviting us here. What a 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:23.360 beautiful place. 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:27.520 Yeah, it's great. We've been recording here since nineteen eighty. 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:31.200 Door and right next door there's a there's a special 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:34.760 building that they use for rehearsals, which turns your band, 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:39.520 John into a true garage bandage forever. Okay, well, let's 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:40.880 hear the garage band play. 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:42.120 What Dude three? 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:50.800 It's small town and I heart radio icons. I have 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:53.640 played that song hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:54.960 on the radio through the years. 0:01:55.640 --> 0:02:00.320 It's clear John, listening to the lyrics, it's clear that 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:03.080 even though that was written a long time ago, that 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:06.640 that that's it was heartfelt and it was a thought 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:10.200 that's honest and true and continues to this day. Because 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.720 we're in a small Indiana town right now where you live. 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:18.080 Throughout all the years, you know, becoming a major star, 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:21.560 you were able to avoid the let's go to La, 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:23.520 let's go to New York, and just stay close to 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:24.440 your roots. 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:27.400 Well, I never need to really fit in you know, 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:36.160 in in the big cities. So you know, I don't know. So, yeah, 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:38.800 I've just stayed here because I feel comfortable here and 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:43.160 I feel that, you know, as an artist, it's best 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:46.320 just to keep your eyes open and your mauch. 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:48.079 Yet, well, you know, people love you here. 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:51.480 I checked into the hotel last night in Bloomington, Indiana, 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:54.239 and I got into the elevator and next to the 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:56.920 buttons for the different floors, they tell you what's on 0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:59.560 each floor, and like on the third floor it was 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.120 the fitness center, and on the fourth floor it said 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:04.080 Jack and Diane Terras. 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:06.520 There you go right in my hotel. 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:11.320 Let's hear another song on iHeart Radio Icons with John mellen. 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:25.400 Kim Okay, yeah, beer at his home studio in Indiana, 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:27.919 and that was Paper and Fire And there was a 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:30.679 very prominent violin part. 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.760 There from the wonderful Lisa Germano. Hi, Lisa, Hello, how 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:35.200 you doing? 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:35.880 I'm good? 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:38.400 Are you? There were some interesting things you were doing 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:40.840 in that song on your instrument, did you think so? 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:44.960 Yes, Well, I pretend I'm a harmonica player on that song? 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:46.160 Well what I did? 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:48.880 I mean, like that's what I thought a harmonica player 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:51.560 would play. If you're playing the blues when we were 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:54.360 recording it and ended up working somehow. 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:56.400 Well, you were playing the violin when you were a 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:56.880 little girl. 0:03:57.280 --> 0:03:59.520 Yeah, yeah, I started playing when I was seven. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:04.480 And of course your family encouraged you to play classical 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:05.560 music on the violin. 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:09.880 Yeah, we had to. It wasn't like encouraging you have 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:11.760 to play this instrument until you're eighteen. 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:14.160 But what was it that you told your parents? 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:17.000 Well, I told my dad driving in the car lot 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.960 many times that I enjoyed playing it, but I really 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:22.279 wanted to be on the radio, and he just thought 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.839 that was silly, like, oh, yeah, I. 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:26.400 Will tell him what your dad used to do. 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.720 Lisa, Well, my dad, well, he played in the Chicago Symphony. 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:33.159 He was a violist and he conducted a lot of things. 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:36.240 He started the Youth Symphony up in South Bend, Indiana. 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:39.400 He was a kind of a big wig music wise 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:39.840 up there. 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:42.600 And then you became a member of not one, but 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:44.599 several prominent rock and roll bands. 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:45.400 I've been lucky. 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:48.160 I've been very lucky. You even worked with my namesake. 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:50.479 I know, I thought Jim Kerr was going to be 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:51.479 here from Simple Mind. 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:53.640 Yeah, I know that happens to me a lot people 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:57.280 get very disappointed. But John Mellencamp, what a great group 0:04:57.320 --> 0:04:59.080 of musicians that you have assembled. 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:03.000 I've had Mike has been in the band fifty years, 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:08.360 and the newest member, Troy, has been in about seventeen years, 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.680 and all in between. Lisa has been in forever. In 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:21.320 a day with the short intermission, short intermission, yeah, so yeah, 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:23.160 a lot of these guys. How long have you been 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:27.560 in the band? Andy, thirty one years? So yeah, a 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:30.000 lot of a lot of the same people around me. 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:38.599 And I've had the same engineer, Dave since eighty eight. 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.080 And Andy, Andy, you've been in the band. You just 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:42.480 mentioned how long you've been in the band. 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:45.520 Yet a lot of the songs that you're going to 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:49.400 be playing on tour are songs that pre date you're 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:50.120 joining the band. 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:51.760 So how many years? How many years has he been 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:52.240 in the band? 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:53.400 Thirty one? 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:54.600 Thirty one years? 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:57.440 Okay, But prior to those thirty one years in the band, 0:05:57.800 --> 0:05:59.479 you were listening to these songs on the radio. 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:01.520 Oh yeah, I was growing up. Now he was making 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:03.000 records himself. 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.400 Yeah, but he was he grew up with some of 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:07.000 the songs that he's going to be able to play 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:08.839 for the very first time during this tour. 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.560 Yeah, but he was what bands were you in? 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:11.839 Oh? 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:14.120 I was in a band called Jason and the Scorchers 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:18.200 from Nashville, and I was also in a band called 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:21.560 Hearts and Minds, which we produced. Mike produced our record 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:24.760 out here in this very room in like nineteen eighty nine. 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:27.200 Ye, the Scorches were played on the radio. 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.120 Yeah, yeah, yeah, but not as often as No No, 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:34.400 John Mellencamp, the next song that you're going to do. 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:37.320 I was talking to my boss back in New York 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:41.719 today and we were going over the setlist for the show. 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:44.400 He told me that this next song is one of 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:46.760 his very favorite songs of all time. 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:49.920 Yeah, you know. I wrote this with the guy and 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:54.160 then I went to high school with it. And his 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:58.640 name is George Green. He died probably twenty years ago now. 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.640 And Georgia and I I wrote quite a few songs together, 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:04.640 and there will be part of my career. So George 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:08.240 and I wrote this song together and it's called Minutes 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:08.839 to Memories. 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:41.680 Welcome back to iHeartRadio Icons with John Mellencamp once again, 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:44.320 live from John's Belmont Mall Studio in Indiana. 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:46.400 Jim Kerr. 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:50.360 We're here in John Mellencamp's home studio with a group. 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:50.840 Of his friends. 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:53.040 Everybody, say hi to all the people who are listening 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:54.920 all over America. 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:59.080 Minutes to Memories. Was that song and speaking. 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:02.960 Of a memory, a really great memory, John Mellencamp, must 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:06.400 have been created for you and so many of your 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:07.840 friends on Monday night. 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.840 Yeah, it was great. I mean, you know, India University 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:18.320 has been struggling for decades and decades, and with the 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:22.239 new way that college football is run, they were able 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:25.480 to come out on top. They've got a great coach, 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:30.320 they have a great team, great quarterback. So yeah, an 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:31.920 undefeated season unheard of. 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:36.280 Well, I know that you can be modest about these things, 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:39.680 but I brought you a copy of last weekend's Wall 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:40.240 Street Journal. 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:41.120 Were on the front page. 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:43.520 There was a big article about you, and you have 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:48.520 been a big booster and a big supporter of Well, 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:53.000 what was the worst team in the history of NCAA 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:57.199 Division I football. You have been there through the darkest 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.679 of days. You never ever ever gave up up, and 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:04.440 you've made some pretty massive contributions to their success. 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:07.679 Well, I showed up as much as I could. 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.040 Well, they even built you a special hut for our 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:15.160 friends who are unaware of this. At the stadium, the 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:17.800 seat that is the furthest away from the field. 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:20.239 Absolutely, the furthest away. 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:23.520 From the field is where John Mellencamp sits, and they 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:25.160 built him a little wooden hut. 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:27.920 And what can you do there in your little wooden hut. 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:30.760 Well, you can talk, and you can watch the game, 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:32.000 and you can smoke. 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:37.160 Right, you're the only person in the whole stadium who 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:37.880 can light up. 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:40.640 But they built to your special stuff. 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:45.280 Well, you know, to be honest, the hut was there 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:48.760 and it was just a shack where they kept like, 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:51.920 you know, mowing equipment and stuff like that. And so 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:55.960 they just fixed it so that you know, I had 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:59.400 some seats and the mansion. You know, they take care 0:09:59.440 --> 0:09:59.640 of me. 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:00.319 Okay. 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:03.480 Well, besides supporting the team publicly and going to the 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:07.560 stadium to root for the team and provide moral support 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:12.520 for them, you've also provided a great deal of shall 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:16.440 we say, financing to help the team. 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:19.280 Well, a long time ago, a guy named Bill Cook, 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:25.000 who invented the heart catheter. Before he died, he came 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:28.440 to me and said, do you want to help build 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.960 an indoor facility because all the other big ten schools 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:37.640 at the time all had practice facilities. And I said yes, 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:43.920 and so we built this pavilion for the team to 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:47.480 rehearse and when it's too cold in Indiana, never hearts outside. 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:50.400 And it's called the John Mellencamp Pavilion. 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:51.000 Yeah it is. 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:55.200 And you gave the school one and a half million 0:10:55.280 --> 0:11:03.000 dollars I did, yes, you did you know those golden 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:06.040 platinum albums you have hanging on the wall, they helped 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:09.920 to finance that John Mellencamp Pavilion at Indiana University. 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:13.640 I bet except Brandy and those guys stole all my money. 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:19.880 So, uh, we have Mike is on and he has 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.319 an electric guitar right now. Mike's a member of the band. 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:24.600 When I looked up at you a few minutes ago, 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:26.119 you had an electric mandolin. 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:29.320 That was that was pretty awesome. 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:32.320 That that's an amazing instrument that one doesn't see very often. 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:33.720 Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's amazing. 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.040 How many strings there are and how fat my fingers 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:36.520 seemed to be. 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:42.679 You can play with fat fingers those sausages. Well, let's 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:44.920 check it out, Okay. 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:53.640 John Mellencamp and his tail and tear at his home 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:55.000 studio in Indiana. 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:56.680 Would check it out on iHeartRadio. 0:11:57.040 --> 0:12:00.240 Icons now while the guitars are switched too. 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:02.760 Well, I have a story about check it out. Well 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:06.120 you do, okay, Yeah, Lisa, when I when I first 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:07.560 wrote this song, o. 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:09.079 H. 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:13.440 We were recording the song and she pulls me aside 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.600 and she goes John, I'm not quite sure where Escrow is. 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:20.520 They kept saying about got a house in Escrow, and 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:22.560 I'm like, one of these days, I'm gonna find out. 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:23.040 Where that is. 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:23.960 And I asked him. 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:27.800 Just everybody laughed. I still didn't get it for a 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:28.280 long time. 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:32.599 Well, all these years later, now I know. 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:38.600 Now, I know people are still live and learn. Okay, 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:40.880 I understand by the way as we did the. 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:44.000 Guitar switches to the acoustic guitars, John, that you have 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:46.240 a cool story about the next song. 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:50.840 Well, the next song was uh uh. I would go 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:53.679 visit with my grandmother who lived to be one hundred, 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:56.160 and she would I be lay in bed with her 0:12:56.160 --> 0:13:00.000 and she would talk to me, and uh. One day 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.079 we were talking and she just went, buddy, you know 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:06.120 you got to quit this cussing and wild living. You're 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:08.240 doing it. You won't get into heaven, and I went 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:12.800 on Grandma and she just said, John, She looked right 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:14.680 in the eye and she said, You're gonna find out 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:19.679 that life is short even in its longest days. And 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:23.600 I thought, oh, from God's mouth to her ears, to 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:27.120 my ears. So I wrote it down. I knew that 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:30.719 when she said that life is short even in its 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:32.040 longest days. 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:51.280 And then you shared your grandmother's thoughts, Yeah. 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:45.319 Longest days. 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:50.040 I couldn't help And I'm sure many other people felt 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:50.439 the same way. 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:52.000 I couldn't help it feel, you know. 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.520 Very emotional hearing you talk about your grandmother and inspiration 0:13:57.280 --> 0:13:58.360 for that beautiful song. 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:00.920 That's so nice that you shared that with us. 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:07.360 Well, she she she was a special girl. She was 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:08.120 a special woman. 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:14.839 We are live from John Mellencamp's studio Belmont mall In. Well, 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.319 it's it's on the outskirts of Bloomington, Indiana, right and 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:21.200 we're here with not only his band, but a group 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:26.520 of his friends. Now. 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:28.760 Having not performed. 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:31.200 Many of the songs that will be a part of 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:37.960 your performance on tour, dancing words the greatest hits. 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:40.200 Take us through the selection process. 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:43.360 Because you have such an extensive catalog, you had to, 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.000 you know, decide what songs you were going to play, 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:49.200 and were there any that you had to listen to 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:51.920 again to familiar familiarize yourself with. 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:55.600 Him or I can't, Jim, I can't remember what songs 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:59.480 are off what album. But I've been very fortunate and 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:03.560 we're I'm going to do two and a half hours. 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:06.960 We'll do an hour fifteen, take a twenty minute break, 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:11.040 do another hour fifteen, and that'll be the show, and 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:16.480 every song will have been a yet of some sort 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:17.440 to some level. 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:20.560 Well, did you have to relearn some of them or 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:21.800 were they all still Well. 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:25.520 We haven't started rehearsing for the tour yet, but yeah, 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:28.040 and we're going to rearrange some of the songs too, 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:31.880 so they don't have that silly eighties vibe to them anymore. 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:35.080 Now, you've been doing theater tours for a long time, 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:38.520 and the atmosphere and an amphitheater is quite different. 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:39.120 Yeah. 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:43.880 That's the reason I stopped playing amphitheaters seventeen years ago, 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:49.680 simply because and I quit playing arenas because I just 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:51.680 got to the point where I felt like I was 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:56.280 just the ring leader of a party, and I kept thinking, 0:15:56.320 --> 0:15:59.280 you know, I'm a musician, not a ring leader or 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.000 the guy putting on the show the party, and you know, 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:06.080 so when you're playing in a theater, it's a whole 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:09.400 different vibe. And we even put up signs in the 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:17.320 theater that say, please recognize theater etiquette, so in other words, 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:22.000 you know it's not there. You come to those theater 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:25.600 shows for parties. And I don't play very many hits. 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:28.320 I just play a few hits here and there, but 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:34.040 mostly new songs and stuff. And I enjoy that a 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:37.160 lot more than I did starting a song and watching 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:39.240 a fistfight breakout in the front row. 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:43.320 But this show is going to be hit after hit 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:44.520 after hit after hit after this. 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:47.880 Yeah, I'm seventy four years old, and so they've been 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:51.960 asking me to do this for years. So I said, okay, 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:53.720 I'm going to do it. Let's do it while I 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:57.120 still have the energy to do it. And so yeah, 0:16:57.160 --> 0:16:59.480 every song will be a hit record. And I'm going 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:01.360 to start to show with I Need to Lover, which 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:06.359 I have not played in decades, decades decades. 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:09.159 I played that song more recently than you have. 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:13.200 Oh yeah, if you've played it at all, you've played 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:13.800 it more than. 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:17.439 Well. You're trying to find the right balance must be 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:19.960 difficult because not really. 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:20.359 Uh. 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:27.159 You know, people are very nostalgic, particularly you know, people 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:32.199 of our generation. So I've noticed that even in the 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:36.680 in the uh, in the theater shows, whenever I play 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:40.200 an old hit record, people seem to respond positively. 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:43.280 Well, that's because those songs are not just yours. They 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:45.880 also belong to the people who are listening to them, 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:50.760 who create their own memories around what initially came out 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:54.680 of your mind and your heart. You transferred that from 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:57.960 yourself right into their very souls and it becomes part 0:17:58.000 --> 0:17:58.639 of their life. 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:01.880 Well, I I hope that. I hope you're right because 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:07.840 uh uh this tour uh dancing words, They're going to 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:10.400 hear a lot of old hit records. 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:16.000 Well, we are here in rural Indiana and where I 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:20.480 live in Manhattan and New York City, we don't have scarecrows, 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:23.000 but you actually over. 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:24.480 There, you actually have them here. 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:25.680 I know you have them. 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:54.560 I see them. 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:57.399 This is iHeartRadio Icons with John Mellencamp. 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:00.479 If you're listening right now, I just got to tell 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:02.840 you that this is one of the most unusual icons 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:06.680 broadcasts we've ever done. Is it's truly like sitting in 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:10.040 someone's living room, you know, where there just happens to 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:13.439 be a world class rock and roll band and one 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:16.119 of the greatest singers of all time just making some 0:19:16.240 --> 0:19:17.800 music while we're all just hanging out. 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:19.560 That's what it seems like to me. 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:23.199 Well, that's that's kind of the idea here. It's just, 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:26.840 you know, that's what rock started out to be. It 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:30.280 was it was not organized, it was rough, it was fun. 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.120 And that's what we intend to do on tour this year. 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:36.400 And you have a new album coming out this year too, 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:40.720 Orphan Train. When can we expect that? 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:42.600 Oh, we're only half done with that. 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:46.760 Okay, so maybe this year. Yeah, maybe maybe this year. 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:51.600 And what about the musical small Town it's gonna if 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:56.720 there are performances scheduled in Maine in October. 0:19:56.040 --> 0:20:02.840 Right, I don't know, right, the Ogonquit Theater, we're doing 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:05.240 a run for about four weeks, I think four or 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:07.959 five weeks, Yeah, October November. 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:12.240 You said they have established shows there though, don't they. Yeah, 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:12.480 they do. 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.960 That's a famous that's a famous, famous play it. It's 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:17.800 a very famous playhouse. Yeah. 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:21.880 Great, well good, Uh the Broadway things have started off 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:22.360 there too. 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:24.680 Is there anything you can tell us about the show. 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:29.479 Uh yeah, it's a story of Jack and Diane. Oh 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:35.000 and uh not in probably the way that people would 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:39.080 have imagined or saw themselves. But you know, if you 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:43.680 listen to the words closely, there's a lot of things 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:49.000 that people probably didn't hear during the song, but they're 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:55.879 in the in the play, Like Diane is is uh Spanish, 0:20:55.960 --> 0:21:00.399 so you know, she's not really a part of the community, 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:05.879 so I mean, and there's a lot of the father 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:12.600 owns a company that was has a chemical dump and 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:16.359 Jack comes back and you know he's he's a football star. 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:22.040 So anyway, it's a very it's a very interesting story. 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:26.280 But I'll tell you what I'm most proud of, Jim, 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:31.240 is that somebody said to me, you know, John, there's 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:39.600 three famous couples in our lifetime, Romeo and Juliet, Frankie 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:44.160 and Johnny and Jack and Diane. And I thought that 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:47.560 was one of the best compliments I'd evergotten to be, 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:52.000 you know, to have written a song that that the 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:53.800 characters meant that much to people. 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:56.440 Okay, well, we have a couple of more songs to 0:21:56.560 --> 0:21:58.560 play during our show. 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:00.240 Here from your Beautiful Video. 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:05.720 The next one is well It's a gigantic, huge hit, 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:07.640 a big, big, big big hit. 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:09.000 It's pink houses. 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:10.000 Yes, let's do it. 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:19.359 You guys, you were listening to iHeartRadio Icons featuring John 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:22.440 Mellencamp live from his Belmont Mall studio in Indiana. 0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:23.240 Once Again. 0:22:23.320 --> 0:22:24.879