Greatest Songs, #439: "Pink Houses" by John Cougar Mellencamp

We're back! The long break in posts is my fault, courtesy of the book I'm writing. The second draft is done, and I am at your service once again. We hope you enjoy our February posts. -- AWO

Album: Uh-Huh (Riva Records)
Year: 1983
Written by: John Cougar Mellencamp
Billboard Hot 100: #8

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOfkpu6749w[/youtube]  From Rolling Stone:

In 1984, Ronald Reagan tried to use "Pink Houses" for a campaign ad, not noticing the bitter heartland rage under the cheery chorus. Mellencamp refused -- although he played it at John Edwards' nomination party [twenty years later]. Recorded in a farmhouse in Brownstown, Indiana, the song was inspired by an old man "sitting on the porch of his pink shack," Mellencamp told ROLLING STONE. "He waved, and I waved back. That's how the song started."

MIX has the full story.