Check It Out (John Mellencamp song)

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"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

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.


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