Friday, July 11, 2008

Aural History: 'Ain't Even Done With the Night'

 

I felt like I'd stepped into a scene from a movie yesterday when Michael and I were having lunch and we both suddenly -- and seemingly involuntarily -- began to tap our feet, smile and sing along with an irresistibly infectious tune coming from way in the distance. It was a good minutes or more of unadulterated joy before I even realized what was the source of our sheer delight was, Mr. John Cougar Mellencamp's pre-"Jack and Diane" masterpiece "Ain't Even Done With the Night." Sure, it makes me an old fart to say this, but where are singles like this today? Justin? Pharrell? Miley? Lil? (I don't know what most of those words mean, by the way.) Is it truly just a function of getting older or do they really not make 'em like they used to? I can't say for sure, but I wouldn't trade my childhood memories of songs like this one for anything. 

"Ain't Even Done With the Night" (Words and music by John Mellencamp) 

Well, our hearts beat like thunder 
I don't know why they don't explode 
You got your hands in my back pockets 
And Sam Cooke's singin' on the radio 
You say that I'm the boy 
Who can make it all come true 
Well, I'm tellin' ya that 
I don't know If I know what to do 

You say that's all right, hold tight 
Well, I don't even know 
If I'm doin' this right 
Well, all right, hold tight 
We can stay out all day 
We can run around all night 
Well, all night, all night 
Well, it's time to go home 
And I ain't even done with the night 

Well I don't know 
No good come-ons 
And I don't know no cool lines 
I feel the heat of your frustration 
I know it's burnin' you up deep down inside 
You say that I'm the boy 
Who can make it all come true 
Well I'm tellin' ya that I don't know If 
I know what to do 

You say that's all right, hold tight 
Well, I don't even know If 
I'm doin' this right 
Well, all right, hold tight 
We can stay out all day 
We can run around all night 
Well, all night, all night 
Well, it's time to go home 
And I ain't even done with the night

2 comments:

Marc Lallanilla said...

Great song, indeed ... but I will burn you a CD of new music that proves yes, they do still make 'em like this.

Anonymous said...

Love this song too...I don't think I ever saw the video for it before. When you ask if they still make music like this, realize that even John Cougar didn't make good music for long after Jack & Diane. He got so preachy and dull.

If you want good pop music nowadays, you have to search high and low because we are in the post-pop music era where music is a toilet bowl and all the turds float to the top.