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. From the promos on tv, to remembering the house being built and painted pink for the promotion. 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. 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. In the three centuries since Crevecoeur’s What is An American, it is obvious that the American Dream has undergone a significant transformation evident in today’s modern world.John Mellencamp’s 1983 single (it peaked at #8 in early 1984) has a lot in common with Bruce’s material at the time. Crevecoeur portrays the Dream as something easily attainable for all citizens of the land but as time has progressed, the Dream seems to be slipping further out of reach. There has been a surplus of diverse challenges that obstruct us from obtaining our own personal standards of success as the generations have seemed to only become more complex. Songwriter John Mellencamp sheds light on the austere reality of the American Dream in his song “Pink Houses.” At the time that Crevecoeur wrote What is An American, America was only just developing and therefore hadn’t experienced the harsh realities that can drive people off their path of obtaining the American Dream. The lyrics of this song stand to depict the stereotypical American Dream. Pink houses represent the deceiving facade of all American Dreams as well as the identical ideals of picket fences, a family to come home to, a steady job, and ultimately success. Mellencamp addresses the fact that in the American Dream, people are free to live as they choose and that life seems to be portrayed as somewhat picture perfect. The chorus of the song shows that the American Dream isn’t what it is made up to be. Mellencamp stresses the fact that although America seems like the perfect building block for the ideal life, it is not that simple. He uses irony to exemplify how imperfect America truly is, singing “ Oh but ain’t that America for you and me. Not everyone will be able to get their own “pink house.” Ain’t that America somethin’ to see baby.Little pink houses for you and me.” It is evident that although America may seem like the ideal place to build a prosperous life, it does not always yield success and happiness. The first line of the song, “there’s a black man with a black cat livin’ in a black neighborhood,” emphasizes the repetition of the word black.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |