Spoken Word Intro:
What we're talking about here is kind of a...it's a...Heartland Feeling.
Mellencamp, you know, kind of a Mellen-feeling.
Ok. What you gotta get together is a Heartland folk singer:
John Couger Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seeger;
That type of feeling: a Mellen-feeling.
You know, a real powerful, approving music
Of a Heartland quality, just powerful straight-forward music.
And if you can't get just the right type of feeling
Find someone who will pass and change them.
C
Old Man Johnson got his head in his hand
C
Makin' his way across state in a fiddlin' band
Am
With his hair all down in his eyes
C
And the microphone all covered with flies.
C
When he gets done playin' goes back to his room
C
Climbs into bed in his cowboy boots
Am
And he picks up a magazine turns on the TV
C
Lights a cigar as he's fallin' asleep.
F C Am
Well he's only a person...who doesn't know shit.
F C Am(let ring)
Yeah nothing happenin'...that's about it.
C
Yeah......
C
Well, little Rosanna came from Texarkana
C
Had fourteen dollars wrapped in a bandana.
Am
Came into town not lookin' for much
C
Well she found a hound dog and she named him "Dutch."
C
She got a job at the arcade takin' quarters
C
But she was never too good at takin' orders
Am
So one night she stopped givin' out change
C
She kicked the boss in the chin and unplugged the games.
F C Am
She's only a person...who doesn't know shit.
F C Am(let ring)
Nothin' happenin'...That's about it.
C
Ooh, ooh. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
C
Sam got canned at the cannery
C
He punched out the clock that night.
Am
His knuckle was bleeding as he walked home,
C
He was cold and he had a headache.
C
Well his wife was cookin' canned beans,
C
He took out all the money out of his jeans
Am
And he set it on fire in the kitchen sink
C
As his wife handed him a drink.
F C Am
He was only a person...who didn't know shit.
F C Am(let ring)
Nothin' happenin'...that's about it.
C
Uh, yeah, oh. Wooh, ooh, ooh, ooh...
C
Smiley was lookin' for handouts
Sleepin' in a abandoned lighthouse.
Am
Down at the mini-mall shakin' his hat
C
Washin' windows with his bare hand.
C
He found a sports car with the keys
C
In the ignition it just seemed so easy.
Am
He took a joyride drove into a hedge
C
Came out with the steering wheel wrapped around his head.
F C Am
Well he's only a person...who doesn't know shit.
F C Am(let ring)
Nothin' happenin'...that's about it.
C
Ooh, ooh, yeah, yeah.
C
Well Jane was born in a small town
C
Everybody just standing around.
Am
They had bingo games and a raffle,
C
Everybody chewin' tobacco.
C
Well she grew up kinda restless
C
All her boyfriends wanted to be dentists(dead-ass?).
Am
And she got a job at the truck stop
C
And she got all fast and never did what she wanted
F C Am
And she's only a person...who doesn't know shit.
F C Am(let ring)
Nothing happenin'...that's about it.
C
Yeah, yeah, yo...
C
Oh yeah...oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh.
C
Woo, ooh, ooh....