Like possum in fire…
Does it look like the beginning of just another boring week? Well, The Nest is about ready to set this Monday on fire. That’s the day we dig through the ashes to find another lost hit that got badly burned by history out of that incinerator of good time music we like to call the Dusty Vinyl Archive! DJ Scratchy is always hot and ready to start an inferno in the booth, while the Sponkies…. well, we shouldn’t be letting them play with matches like this. Here’s a song guaranteed to set off your smoke detector…
The Nest has featured John Mellencamp on the DVA before, oddly enough, for a song of his that came from the late 90’s when most people might have assumed he was already resorting to playing small town county fairs. Mellencamp was at his peak in the 1980’s when he had the coolest middle name in music, Cougar. The voice of the American heartland was a literal hit making machine during that time, with four straight albums in American Fool, Uh-huh, Scarecrow and The Lonesome Jubilee that provided the majority of the songs we know him for today…
Including that biggest hit from Scarecrow, “If I Only Had A Brain”…. oh, wait, wrong Scarecrow.
Alas, like with many other big artists who had a ton of hits, Mr. Cougar Mellencamp’s catalogue came crumblin’ down to just a handful of his most famous songs that have survived to still get radio airplay today…. including some I don’t really care for. I could spend a month of Mondays showcasing some of the best of JCM in the 80’s that is rarely heard anymore… but if you put together the theme of my intro with today’s featured artist, you may have already concluded that this week’s DVA song is none other than the wonderful little ditty “Paper in Fire”…
“Paper in Fire” was a #9 hit for Mellencamp in 1987, and was the lead track from Jubilee. And though it was the first single to be spawned from that album, it’s been passed in fame and classic rock airplay by its follow up “Cherry Bomb.” “Paper in Fire” is a much more fun song to stomp your foot to, though… as the people from the poor black community who serve as John’s audience for this song’s video would certainly agree to.
Two cougars in one screenshot!
The DVA will return next Monday with another awesome lost hit that’s guaranteed to hurt so good…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
love it!!! and I love the video… that’s more muzak than the howling stuff from today!!!!
Today’s “artists” couldn’t handle an accordion, fiddle, or that steel guitar thingie!
Someone get that fiddler some clothes!
Fiddling in her nightgown gets her more tips…
She was dressing for covid lockdown
That video is fabulous. Love how everyone got into it…….great stuff!
Pam
It just needs the old lady from the Billy Joel video for “A Matter of Trust” yelling out her window for them to knock off all that noise!
I hate to admit it but that was rather good. The drummer let the side down, though. He looks like an accountant and doesn’t have nearly enough hair.
The drummer is the one guy I always notice in every Mellencamp video. He does look a bit out of place, and he did get kicked out of the group in the 90’s…
I’d forgotten all about this song, even though I always liked it before it slipped out of mind! Maybe listening to it when I cook will keep fire in the forefront of my mind so I don’t leave the burners on…like I did twice yesterday.
Uh oh! Maybe if you made a ringtone out of this song, John Cougar Mellencamp could keep you from burning down the house (and that calls for a Talking Heads earworm)…
I think I’ll stay away from Burning Down the House. It might act like subliminal messaging: I space out and the next thing I know I’m setting the curtains on fire!
You are all behind the 8-ball.
Mitzi is behind the 8-ball. Snuggle is being ballblocked….
I love this song, forgot all about it! You sure find the best song, Uncle Evil!!
And they said I’d never amount to anything watching all that MTV…