Sadly, I won't be purchasing any more John Mellencamp cd's as a result of his involvement with this. (Read the article. It's funny.) But he's written some good songs and from time to time I find myself humming the tune to this,
The Real Life
Suzanne divorced her husband
She got the keys and the car and the home
But her friends were really his friends
No one stops by to see her much any more
So one night,
she goes back down to The old haunts
That once upon a time were her own
She didnt know nobody out there no More
And the whole experience just made her Feel so old
She says
I want to live the real life
I want to life my life close to the bone
Just because Im middle-aged that Dont mean
I want to sit around my house and watch TV
I want the real life
I want to live the real life
Jackson Jackson was a good kid
He had four years of college
And a bachelors degree
Started workin, when he was 21
Got fed up and quit When he was 43
He said, "My whole life
Ive done, what i supposed to do
Now Id like to maybe do something For myself
And just as soon, i figure out what That is
You can bet your life
Im gonna give it hell
He says
I want to live the real life
I want to life my life close to the bone
Just because Im middle-aged
That Dont mean
I want to sit around my house and watch TV
I want the real life
I want to live the real life
I guess, it dont matter, how old you Are
Or how old one lives to be
I guess, it boils down to what we did
With our lives
And how we deal with our own Destinies
But something happens
when you reach a certain age
Particularly to to those ones, that are Young at heart
Its a lonely proposition when you Realize
That theres less days in front of the Horse
Than riding in the back of this cart
I say
I want to live the real lifePosted by jdmays at July 15, 2004 06:42 PM | TrackBack
I want to life my life close to the bone
Just because Im middle-aged that Dont mean
I want to sit around my house and watch TV
I want the real life
I want to live the real life.
Hey, JD ---
Don't toss out those CDs yet. I will gladly take them off your hands. You have the right to ban from your life anyone who supports Sen. Kerry, but do you really want to do that?
Afterall, Mellencamp and the rest of these performers only have one vote each, just like the rest of us. To part with someone whose music, writing, comedy, acting, preaching, football-passing, painting, technological-advancing, baking, building, or financial counseling (etc., etc.) you enjoy seems like one of those "you hurt me, I hurt me" kind of things.
Is tolerance no longer a virtue?
Posted by: Sarah at July 15, 2004 05:59 PMI don't financially support someone who then uses that financial support to work against my own beliefs. Is that being intolerant?
No, tolerance is acknowledging that someone is very talented while at the same time realizing that they don't share my worldview.
As far as hurting myself in order to hurt them. I'll never run out of enjoyable music and if I never buy a Mellencamp cd again, it's a "burden" I think I can bear. Also, I doubt John will miss whatever paltry amount he'd get from me off the sale of a cd.
It comes down to being willing to stay true to your own principles. Now that's a virtue that seems to be in short supply.
-jdm
I'm so there with that song. It reminds me of the George Bernard Shaw quote.
This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.
I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
PS: I never said I was going to throw out any cd's. Only that I wasn't going to buy any more of them from this artist.
-jdm.
Darn! And I thought I was going to get some Mellencamp CDs for free.
Posted by: Sarah at July 15, 2004 11:37 PM