Check It Out (John Mellencamp song)

Last updated

"Check It Out"
Single by John Cougar Mellencamp
from the album The Lonesome Jubilee
B-side "We Are the People"
Released1988 (1988)
Studio Belmont Mall (Indiana, US)
Genre Heartland rock
Length4:19
Label Mercury
Songwriter(s) John Mellencamp
Producer(s) John Mellencamp, Don Gehman
John Cougar Mellencamp singles chronology
"Cherry Bomb"
(1987)
"Check It Out"
(1988)
"Rooty Toot Toot"
(1988)

"Check It Out" is a 1987 song by John Mellencamp released as the third single from his album The Lonesome Jubilee in 1988. The single was a top 20 hit, reaching number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. [1] [2]

Contents

Lyrics and music

According to Mellencamp biographer David Masciotra, the song "describes the rewards and punishments of a typical American middle-class family" and professes that "our attempts to solve the mysteries of the heart and grasp the truth of humanity are fraught with disaster and disappointment." [3] Mellencamp biographer Paul Rees called its sound "uplifting". [4]

Reception

Cash Box said that Mellencamp's rough county-ish feel takes you into the heartland [of America]" and that the song "features a nice instrumental hook line that sounds like an otherworldly bagpipe and leads into the verses." [5]

Masciotra calls it "a uniquely powerful testament to the mystery of inner life". [3]

Music video

The video was shot as a live performance at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis on December 11, 1987, during Mellencamp's massive Lonesome Jubilee tour.

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1987–1988)Peak
position
US Cashbox [6] 14
US Billboard Hot 100 [7] 14

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References

  1. Whitburn, Joel (2009). Top Pop Singles (12th ed.). Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, Inc. p. 649. ISBN   978-0898201802.
  2. Bessman, Jim (2007). John Mellencamp: The Concert at Walter Reed. Bloomington, Indiana: Author House. p. 5. ISBN   9781434346469.
  3. 1 2 Masciotra, David (2022). Mellencamp: American Troubadour. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 4, 100–103, 106, 122, 135. ISBN   9780813195582.
  4. Rees, Paul (2021). Mellencamp. Atria Books. p. 94. ISBN   9781982112165.
  5. "Single Releases" (PDF). Cash Box. February 6, 1988. p. 10. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
  6. Whitburn, Joel (2014). Cash Box Pop Hits 1952-1996 . Sheridan Books, Inc. ISBN   978-0-89820-209-0.
  7. "John Mellencamp Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved December 13, 2021.