The fictional character that inspired John Mellencamp
John Mellencamp belongs to a particularly American lineage of songwriters. He’s cut from the Johnny Cash, John Fogerty and Bruce Springsteen mould. The kind of musicians whose rugged, masculine exterior goes hand in hand with a genuinely fascinating interior life. One that’s rarely soft or touchy-feely, but still emotionally literate and at its best, can be moving in a way that few other songwriters match. Let’s be real here, you’d have to be one of the best around to get away with the nickname “Cougar” for decades.
When one takes a listen to Mellencamp’s music, one can hear the influences pretty clearly. This is a man indebted to Highway 61 era Dylan, Sticky Fingers era Rolling Stones and outlaw country megastars like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and the aforementioned Man In Black. However, John Mellencamp is a man a lot more cultured than his reputation would suggest. His music takes influences from worlds far beyond fellow rockers. Most notably, the guy is a film buff and is not afraid to show it.
This is most notable in the work he’s done for the silver screen. He directed 1992’s Falling From Grace alongside starring in it, and flexed his acting chops again in 2001’s After Image and 2002’s Lone Star State Of Mind. He composed the score for the Meg Ryan-directed 2015 drama Ithaca and, if you take his word for it, was offered a role in the Ridley Scott road classic Thelma & Louise. He turned it down, but it was given to some no-hoper called Brad Pitt. Wonder what became of him?
However, his love of film goes far beyond just working in the medium. It’s also directly influenced his art, with one iconic fictional character inspiring his music just as much as any great songwriter of the 1960s and 1970s. If you’re a Mellencamp aficionado, you probably know exactly what character we’re talking about and have said film’s many iconic quotes close at hand—none more so than the man himself, though.
Which fictional character inspired John Mellencamp most?
In his 1986 classic ‘Rain on the Scarecrow’, Mellencamp sings the line “He said ‘John, it’s just my job and I hope you understand.’ / Hey calling it your job old hoss sure don’t make it right.” This is a more or less direct quote from 1967s stone cold classic prison drama Cool Hand Luke, an adaptation of the Don Pearce novel of the same year from two years earlier.
The novel and the film tell the story of Lucas ‘Luke’ Jackson, played transcendently by Paul Newman. Jackson is a man imprisoned in a corrupt maximum security prison for cutting the heads off a few parking meters while he was drunk. While serving time, he finds himself at odds with the sadistic prison guards who seem less interested in doing their job and more interested in torturing Jackson and his fellow inmates into submission.
A young John Mellencamp watched the story of Luke Jackson and found himself deeply moved by it. It takes a heart to stand up to abuse from authority figures and to inspire others to do the same. In an interview with (fittingly enough) Turner Classic Movies, Mellencamp had this to say about the character. “That character made that big an impression on me of how I want to live my life: Free.”
He talks about a specific scene that spoke to him as well, when a freshly escaped Luke talks to his ailing mother and says “I tried to live always free and above board like you and… I dunno, I just can’t seem to find no elbow room”. Luke’s mother Arletta responds “Well… laugh it up kid, you’ll make out.” A powerful, scene, one whose essence has found its way into the powerful music of John Mellencamp time and time again.
