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John Mellencamp- Scarecrow

John Mellencamp's "Scarecrow" album released in August 1985 was loaded with hits, including "Small Town","Lonely Ol' Night", and "R.O.C.K. in the USA".  His list of Top 20 hit songs is extensive enough to require the double-disc "Words and Music"  compilation, but it was the album tracks starting with Scarecrow's "Minutes to Memories", worthy of inclusion in the great Paul Simon songbook, which revealed his songcraft to me.

Bruce Springsteen- Born in the USA- Philadelphia 12-95

After the release of the Ghost of Tom Joad album , which invokes the name of the starving Depression-era Okie in the Grapes of Wrath , Bruce Springsteen did some selected dates without the "E" Street Band . More than a decade after the Republican Party appropriated the chorus from his song "Born in the USA" for President Ronald Reagan's re-election campaign , Springsteen was still rankled by the usage out of context minus the verses . ..(more)