Mellencamp Does "Washington"

Veteran rocker John Mellencamp is at work in his Bloomington, Indiana, studio on an album of traditional blues and folk songs for release later this year. On the still-untitled set, he covers blues legends Robert Johnson and Howlin' Wolf as well as folk balladeer Woody Guthrie.

For "From Washington," Mellencamp updated the lyrics of Guthrie's traditional "Baltimore to Washington" to fit in the context of the imminent conflict with Iraq. According to the New York Times, the lyrics include:

He wants to fight with many
And he says it's not for oil
He sent out the National Guard
To police the world
From Baghdad to Washington

Mellencamp plans to make the song available soon on mellancamp.com.

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Song Stories

“Time to Pretend”

MGMT | 2008

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”

More Song Stories entries »

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