Smells can take people back to a time and place instantly. Crayons seem to have a very strong effect on most of my friends. With me, the smell of a Crayola 64 pack takes me back to Mrs. Rice’s 3rd grade class instantly. My blue plastic pencil box stuffed with crayons and number 2 pencils! Bang. There I am again.
The sound of rain and windchimes for example, takes me back to when I was 9 and we had a back porch in Indiana where my father and I could listen to the rain and thunder. It’s something we still get to do, ableit rarely these days.
Music, of course, has this miraculous power as well. Growing up in Indiana, it’s easy to see why its native son John Cougar Mellencamp and his music could so easily define a time and place for me and anyone else in my generation. There are many memories that are stamped in my mind by his music. It starts with the last day of 6th grade where were listened to the single “Jack and Dianne”. Another song, Lonely Old Night, takes me to the Indiana State Fair. Not only did I hear it there during some fun teeenage evenings, but the music video was also filmed there and one of my childhood friend’s can be seen strolling the midway! Good times. Another one of the songs takes me back to high school. The song is Check It Out and while it initially reminds me of those turbulant and defining years of youth, the song’s words always made me look into my future and wonder how I would look back on those days, what dreams I would have and which ones I would sacrafice. The words are written from a point of view I know only to well now. With age, a marrage (and divorce), a son, jobs, mortgages, all the good with the bad, all the trappings of adult life; the song helps me put a lot in perspective. It helps me look back to what my hopes and dreams were in my youth and with the benefit of time, appriciate what I have in my life and just as importantly, what dreams I still have despite life’s adversities. And so without futher ado, the song.
John ‘Cougar’ Mellencamp
Check It Out
Written by – John Mellencamp
From – The Lonesome Jubilee
Peaked at #14 – 4/88
A million young poets
Screamin’ out their words
To a world full of people
Just livin’ to be heard
Future generations
Ridin’ on the highways that we built
I hope they have a better understanding
Check it out
Goin’ to work on Monday
Check it out
Got yourself a family
Check it out
All utility bills have been paid
You can’t tell your best buddy that you love him
So check it out
Where does our time go
Check it out
Got a brand new house in escrow
Check it out
Sleepin’ with your back to your loved one
This is all that we’ve learned about happiness
Check it out
Forgot to say hello to my neighbors
Check it out
Sometimes I question my own behavior
Check it out
Talkin’ about the girls that we’ve seen on the sly
Just to tell our souls we’re still the young lions
So check it out
Gettin’ too drunk on Saturdays
Check it out
Playin’ football with the kids on Sundays
Check it out
Soarin’ with the eagles all week long
And this is all that we’ve learned about living
This is all that we’ve learned about living
A million young poets
Screamin’ out their words
Maybe someday
Those words will be heard
By future generations
Ridin’ on the highways that we built
Maybe they’ll have a better understanding
Check it out
Hope they’ll have a better understanding
Check it out
Maybe they’ll have a better understanding
Check it out
Maybe they’ll have a better understanding
Check it out
Hope they have a better understanding
Check it out…
If you’d like to listen to a good cross section John Mellencamp’s work, I recommend the WORDS & MUSIC CD and DVD collection.
