Blowing & Drifting

For whatever ’80s-cosmic reason, I have heard John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane” twice in the last week. Good god, what a fantastic song. From the metallish guitar riff that dissolves into those stark chords to the miniaturist verses, it’s a perfect few minutes of song. I remember thinking, in my 20s, having heard this song my whole life, that the aphoristic line at its heart was painfully true: “Oh yeah/Life goes on/Long after the thrill/Of living is gone.” Now I think it’s irredeemably, adolescently maudlin – and still more than slightly true.