Posted on 10/4/2007, 11:01:54 AM by TornadoAlley3
Folksy rocker sings about injustice as part of recording session for new album.
*The heartland rocker that brought us "Jack and Diane" and "Pink Houses" in the 80s has focused his creative attention toward Jena, Louisiana for a song on his upcoming album.
According to Fox411 columnist Roger Friedman, John Mellencamp has recorded a song about the Jena 6, the group of six African American teens who were charged in the beating of a white classmate by a district attorney largely viewed to be racially biased.
Listen to the song here: http://relative-way.com/jenastream.
The lyrics are as follows:
"An all-white jury hides the executioner’s face Is this how we are, me and you? Everyone needs to know their place And here we thought this blackbird was hidden in the flue Oh, oh, oh, Jena Oh, oh, oh, Jena Oh, oh, oh, Jena Take your nooses down So what becomes of boys that cannot think straight Particularly those with paper-bag skin Yes, sir, no, sir, wipe that smile off your face We’ve got our rules here and you’ve got to fit in Oh, oh, oh, Jena Oh, oh, oh, Jena Oh, oh, oh, Jena Take your nooses down Hey, some way sanity will prevail But no one knows when that day will come A shot in the dark, well it might find its way To the hearts of those who hold the keys to kingdom come Oh, oh, oh, Jena Oh, oh, oh, Jena Oh, oh, oh, Jena Take your nooses down Oh, oh, oh, Jena Oh, oh, oh, Jena Oh, oh, oh, Jena Take your nooses down."
An all-white jury
If this melonbrain actually READ about the story, I'd love to ask him why he's getting all hot and bothered about six people who beat up ONE person.
This is the post-Springsteen idea of "protest" music--rockers supporting bullies who gang up on single people. Yes, obscure the facts, John--get all worked up about a symbol that could incite violence...and then ignore the actual violent acts!
I'm proud to say I've never spent a dime on this ignorant, pretentious "musician's" boring music.
CRAP!
The video’s opening text says the noose tree was on the school grounds. Is this correct? I thought I had read it was on private property away from the school.
“An all-black groups kicks the boy while he’s down Is this how we are, me and you? Everyone needs to know their place And here we thought this whitebird was hidden in the flue Oh, oh, oh, Jena Oh, oh, oh, Jena Oh, oh, oh, Jena Take your gang beatings down So what becomes of boys that cannot think straight Particularly those with white Sharpton on the brain Yes, sir, no, sir, wipe that smile off your face We’ve got our rules here and you’ve got to fit in Oh, oh, oh, Jena Oh, oh, oh, Jena Oh, oh, oh, Jena Take your gang beatings down Hey, some way sanity will prevail But Je$$e doesn’t know when that day will come A shot in the dark, well it might find its way To the hearts of those who hold the keys to kingdom come Oh, oh, oh, Jena Oh, oh, oh, Jena Oh, oh, oh, Jena Take your gang beatings down Oh, oh, oh, Jena Oh, oh, oh, Jena Oh, oh, oh, Jena Take your gang beatings down.”
Mellencamp is an idiot; always has been and always will be. I long ago purged all his crap from my music collection.
John Cougar Melonhead really is a putz!
Neither have I, and after this I can say with assurance that I never will. The man is celebrating evil and trying to make it sound good. Your one-word description of him is an insult to assholes.
In the early 80's as John Cougar he was ok...........now he's a tired old cocktail liberal who lives in a isolated glass bubble. He thinks he's important, but hes really just become boorish
From Wikipedia:
" The 150-person jury call included black citizens, who make up ten percent of the parish's population,[35] but none of the 50 potential jurors who showed up were black."
Also, this little tidbit:
"Robert Bailey, Jr., posted, but later removed, photographs on Myspace showing him and another Jena 6 defendant with large numbers of hundred dollar bills. The source of the money is not known, and Reverend Alan Bean and family members have denied that donations have been misapplied."
I thought the Ramones already had.
“Beat on the brat, beat on the brat, beat on the brat with a baseball bat, oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh-oh...”
Okay, thanks. So the tree was on the campus.
This puke stole that line from Bob Dylan's song about "Hurricane" Carter
I also caught a glimpse of a Talk Show a while back where Johnny boy said he would forgive Osama Bin Laden, or some such sh!t like that
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