To hear Mellencamp tell the story, "Jack and Diane" was not an easy song to record, and throughout the process he was more than once ready to scrap the whole thing. The hand clapping, so integral to its sound and vibe, was never intended to be part of the finished product, was only done so the musicians could maintain the tempo as they recorded (or something to that effect). At some point, Mellencamp and crew wisely decided to keep that part in.
But the notion that the song came together more or less by accident makes perfect sense, because you can't fashion the greatness of "Jack and Diane" intentionally. It does tend to just happen, when and if it happens. There are precious few songs out there that withstand the scrutiny of changing tastes and styles, and remain as true today (that is, relevant) as they were nearly forty years ago, quite as heartily as this one does.
And it's not just that takeaway line about life going on after the thrill of living is gone, it's everything that happens before that in the lives of Jack and Diane - football stars and debutantes in back seats and hanging out at the Tastee-Freeze, talking about running off to the city, Diane's overly-cautious wisdom reining in (squelching?) Jack's teenage boy bravado.
Mellencamp really encapsulated a universal truth about being that age, about being bored and at the same time fatally restless, a truth that has not only spanned generations, but circumstances. It doesn't matter if you're white or black, or whether you grew up in the "heartland" or on the coasts, city or country, or if you were a jock or a prep or a nerd or a slut or a dirtball in your teenage years, or a brainy kid, or the weird kid who wore trench coats and thought he could hear poetry being read whenever it rained...every kid at some point between the ages of 13 and 17 goes through some version of "Jack and Diane". And what's brilliantly reflected here is not just that restlessness, but also a certain creeping apathy.
And yeah, the restlessness has a way of vanishing as the years peel away, leaving only the faint, ineffectual warmth of memories on an ashy Wednesday afternoon....so watch that apathy, kiddies. "...as long as you can..." Changes are coming.
"Diane says, 'Baby, you ain't missing nothing...'"
#306) "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" by Billy Joel - "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" is what people who love Billy Joel's work love about it. I made a similar assertion last week about a Pink Floyd song, but I think it's more significant with Billy Joel, because I think Billy Joel's influence is more far-reaching than Floyd's. Yes, in a way it's comparing apples to oranges, and no question I prefer Pink Floyd, consider them a bigger part of my jam (er, whatever that means...). Nevertheless, I think Joel's body of work, as it pertains specifically to songwriting and musicianship, and contribution of same to the annals of late 20th century music, is more impressive.
But unlike last week's Pink Floyd song, "Scenes..." also contains many of the things that people who hate Billy Joel's music hate about it. I'm not sure what that is, exactly... I guess a certain level of schmaltzy-ness, a little too slick and polished...finger-snapping musicians fleet-footedly treading that line between "rock and roll" and West Side Story.
But Billy Joel is a gifted songwriter, one of the greatest of the 20th century I'd venture, and like "Jack and Diane", I think - intentionally or not - he really taps into a universal (and durable) truth about being young in "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant". This time it isn't about being in high school, it's being just out of high school, freshly launched into the adult world, a couple who rush into things, who get married and get "an apartment with deep piled carpet and a couple of paintings from Sears..." (which I know from experience is exactly how it goes down). It could be considered the next chapter in Jack and Diane's life, after they've graduated and were unable to hold onto 16...or didn't bother trying.
"Then the king and the queen went back to the green, but you can never go back there again..."
