Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits

Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits is a greatest hits album by American rock and roll artist John Mellencamp. This two-disc set was released October 19, 2004 on the Island and UTV Records labels.[2] It is a retrospective of Mellencamp's career at the time of its release, and features at least one song from each of his studio albums released between 1978's A Biography and 2003's Trouble No More. Two songs, "Walk Tall" and "Thank You", were recorded exclusively for this album. No songs from Mellencamp's 1976 debut album Chestnut Street Incident or 1977's The Kid Inside are represented. Also omitted is Mellencamp's cover of "Without Expression", which was released on his previous compilation album The Best That I Could Do 1978–1988.

Words & Music: Greatest Hits
Greatest hits album by
John Mellencamp
ReleasedOctober 19, 2004
Recorded1978–2004
Genre
Length147:41
LabelIsland, UTV
Producer
John Mellencamp chronology
Trouble No More
(2003)		 Words & Music: Greatest Hits
(2004)		 Freedom's Road
(2007)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
411mania.com(9/10)[1]
AllMusic[2]
The A.V. Club(mixed)[3]
The Guardian[4]
Rolling Stone[5]

Initial pressings of the album included a bonus DVD that contained the music videos for "Crumblin' Down", "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.", "Rain on the Scarecrow", "Check It Out", and "Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)".[2]

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the compilation a positive review, describing it as more thorough than The Best That I Could Do 1978–1988, but criticized its non-chronological track listing.[2]

In December 2004 the album was certified Platinum by the RIAA.[6]

Track listing

All songs written by John Mellencamp, except where noted.

Disc one
  1. "Walk Tall" – 3:45
    • (previously unreleased)
  2. "Pink Houses" – 4:45
  3. "Lonely Ol' Night" – 3:46
  4. "Jackie Brown" – 4:03
  5. "Rain on the Scarecrow" (Mellencamp, George M. Green) – 3:46
  6. "Love and Happiness" – 3:54
  7. "Check It Out" – 4:21
  8. "Peaceful World" – 4:06
  9. "Paper in Fire" – 3:52
    • (from The Lonesome Jubilee, 1987)
  10. "Your Life Is Now" (Mellencamp, Green) – 3:59
  11. "Human Wheels" (Mellencamp, Green) – 5:36
  12. "When Jesus Left Birmingham" – 5:16
    • (from Human Wheels, 1993)
  13. "Authority Song" – 3:50
    • (from Uh-Huh, 1983)
  14. "What If I Came Knocking" – 5:06
    • (from Human Wheels, 1993)
  15. "Crumblin' Down" (Mellencamp, Green) – 3:36
    • (from Uh-Huh, 1983)
  16. "Small Town" – 3:42
    • (from Scarecrow, 1985)
  17. "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A." – 2:55
    • (from Scarecrow, 1985)
  18. "Cherry Bomb" – 4:49
    • (from The Lonesome Jubilee, 1987)
  19. "Pop Singer" – 2:46
    • (from Big Daddy, 1989)

Disc two
  1. "Thank You" – 3:38
    • (previously unreleased)
  2. "Martha Say" – 3:43
    • (from Big Daddy, 1989)
  3. "Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)" (Mellencamp, Green) – 4:54
  4. "Hand to Hold On to" – 3:25
  5. "I Need a Lover" – 5:36
  6. "Hurts So Good" (Mellencamp, Green) – 3:41
    • (from American Fool, 1982)
  7. "Get a Leg Up" – 3:47
    • (from Whenever We Wanted, 1991)
  8. "Wild Night" (Van Morrison) – 3:28
  9. "Dance Naked" – 3:01
    • (from Dance Naked, 1994)
  10. "Teardrops Will Fall" (David Allard, Marion Smith) – 4:20
  11. "Ain't Even Done with the Night" – 4:38
  12. "Just Another Day" – 3:31
    • (from Mr. Happy Go Lucky, 1996)
  13. "Jack & Diane" – 4:17
    • (from American Fool, 1982)
  14. "Rumbleseat" – 2:59
    • (from Scarecrow, 1985)
  15. "I'm Not Running Anymore" – 3:27
    • (from John Mellencamp, 1998)
  16. "Again Tonight" – 3:18
    • (from Whenever We Wanted, 1991)
  17. "This Time" – 4:20
    • (from Nothin' Matters and What If It Did, 1980)
  18. "Now More Than Ever" – 3:43
    • (from Whenever We Wanted, 1991)

Personnel on 2004 tracks

"Walk Tall"
  • John Mellencamp – lead vocals
  • Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds – guitar, background vocals
  • Reggie Hamilton – bass
  • Ricky Lawson – drums
  • Michael Ramos – organ
  • Miriam Sturm – violin
  • Andy York – guitar

"Thank You"
  • John Mellencamp – lead vocals
  • Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds – guitar, background vocals
  • Ricky Lawson – drums
  • Michael Ramos – organ, background vocals
  • Miriam Sturm – violin
  • Mike Wanchic – guitar, background vocals
  • Andy York – guitar, background vocals
  • Jane McLeod – background vocals
  • Sonja Rasmussen – background vocals
  • Laurie Robert-Glug – background vocals
  • Susan Swaney – background vocals

References
  1. 411mania.com review
  2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits – John Mellencamp". Allmusic. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
  3. The A.V. Club review
  4. The Guardian review
  5. Rolling Stone review
  6. "RIAA – Searchable Database: John Mellencamp". Retrieved July 25, 2018.
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