Best John Mellencamp Quotes & Sayings

If fans are going to turn on me because of this, they weren't my fans anyway. I couldn't betray a whole 25 years of record making and not do this. I had to. — John Mellencamp

A lot of Woody Guthrie's songs were taken from other songs. He would rework the melody and lyrics, and all of a sudden it was a Woody Guthrie song. — John Mellencamp

This is about black people selling out other black people. — John Mellencamp

Future generations, riding on the highways that we built, I hope they have a better understanding. — John Mellencamp

I thought I knew a lot about music. Then you start digging and the deeper you go, the more there is. — John Mellencamp

An honest man's pillow is his peace of mind. — John Mellencamp

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

They say life goes on long after the thrill of living — John Mellencamp

I enjoy the pleasure of my own company. — John Mellencamp

I went to New York in 1974, to either try to get a record deal, get into the New York Art Student League, or be a dancer. So that was my plan. Some plan. And I had no money. — John Mellencamp

I have to say, the coolest person I ever met in my whole life is John Mellencamp. I never met a person who was more secure about himself and his person. — Steven Adler

Be careful of those who kill in Jesus' name; he don't believe in killing at all. — John Mellencamp

The dust to which this flesh shall return, it is the ancient dreaming dust of God. — John Mellencamp

Country sure has changed in the last 10 years. It was one thing, then it was another. Country has slowly marched toward a rock beat and rock preservation. Country artists of today. Man! That's how I used to sound in the '80s. — John Mellencamp

Mama, why do I always fall for the crazy ones? — John Mellencamp

All I can do is repeat what I think is the best information that anybody ever gave me. — John Mellencamp

Immersing yourself in the environment of a real record store where music is celebrated and cherished adds real value to the experience of buying music. In some ways, that retail experience is as important as the music. — John Mellencamp

Sound quality was supposed to be one of the big selling points for CDs but, as we know, it wasn't very good at all. It was just another con, a get-rich-quick scheme, a monumental hoax perpetrated on the music consuming public. — John Mellencamp

When politicians use fear, they are playing into the enemy's hand. — John Mellencamp

I've never fit in in any music world. I've always been an outsider. I mean, the fact that I live in Indiana - I live in a fly-over state. I'm not running away from anything, that's the problem. Most people go to cities because they don't like where they come from. — John Mellencamp

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

When you live life for yourself it's hard on everyone. And that hasn't changed. For me, if anything, it's gotten worse. — John Mellencamp

With no bottom line, it's hard to know wrong from right. But I ain't ever satisfied. — John Mellencamp

In the genre of "making you feel like you're not having an awesome American high school experience," the worst offender is actually a song: John Cougar Mellencamp's "Jack & Diane." It's one of those songs - like Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" - that everyone knows all the words to without ever having chosen to learn them. — Mindy Kaling

You can't tell your best buddy that you love him. — John Mellencamp

Everything I see and hear ... I will take ideas from anyplace, anywhere, anytime, and life has become a song to me. I'm always looking for a song. — John Mellencamp

The CD, it should be noted, was born out of greed. It was devised to prop up record sales on the expectation of people replenishing their record collections with CDs of albums they had already purchased. — John Mellencamp

Want me to spend the night? Hey lover boy, you know I will, and my best girlfriend lives down the road, together we will thrill you. — John Mellencamp

Grace, Mercy and Forgiveness will help a man walk tall. Walk tall! — John Mellencamp

Don't ever lose that innocent laughter, don't let time take that away — John Mellencamp

For me or a Bruce Springsteen to sit up in our ivory towers and make comments about racism, well, were not really in it, are we? — John Mellencamp

All my friends are so small town. — John Mellencamp

Go to work and be a Hollywood stud, drive your four wheel drive right into the mud. — John Mellencamp

I know a lot of funny people in a lot of funny places. — John Mellencamp

We have been lied to and terrorized by our own government, and it is time to take action. — John Mellencamp

If we have any hope for survival of the music that we all love, compassion must replace name-calling, fairness must replace greed, and we need to come together as a musical community and try to understand each other's problems. — John Mellencamp

I do things my way and I pay a high price. — John Mellencamp

I was one of those guys, you know, playing and singing, and there was no reason for me to write a song, because there were so many beautiful songs out. And Bob Dylan was always the ultimate songwriter, and nobody could ever write a song as good as him, and nobody ever has written a song as good as him. — John Mellencamp