During an interview with Billboard, John Mellencamp recently talked about his latest collaboration with Bruce Springsteen on his new album entitled ‘Strictly a One-Eyed Jack.’ According to the musician, Springsteen and his other dear friend Bob Dylan have something in common.
John Mellencamp has been friends with Bruce Springsteen for a very long time. In fact, the duo has been supporting each other on live performances as well as on their albums, such as the time Mellencamp was joined onstage by surprise guest Springsteen at the end of his May 26, 1988, show for a duet of Bob Dylan’s ‘Like a Rolling Stone.’
Their friendship and musicianship were recently crowned by three duets on Mellencamp’s 24th studio album, ‘ Strictly a One-Eyed Jack,’ released on January 21, 2022. The two worked on three songs on the album named ‘Did You Say Such a Thing,’ ‘A Life Full of Rain,’ and ‘Wasted Days’, which is the album’s lead single.
Like Springsteen, Mellencamp is also close friends with the legendary Bob Dylan. The two musicians previously even co-headlined 11 shows in the summer of 2010. In fact, Mellencamp has paid tribute to Dylan by covering his iconic songs on multiple occassions.
During a recent interview, John Mellencamp reflected on working with Bruce Springsteen on his recent album. According to the musician, Springsteen comes up with numerous ideas while working on new materials, all of which he gets across with much humbleness.
In fact, his working method reminded Mellencamp of Bob Dylan, who also gets countless ideas during the creation process. However, there’s a difference between the two since as much as Mellencamp appreciates hearing from Dylan about his opinions, he still asked the musician not to call him in the middle of the night.
Mellencamp’s statement on Springsteen and Dylan follows:
“Bruce has a wonderful way of having humility and tenacity, all at the same time. He can get his ideas across with humility and an ability to do what he wants to do. He’s run his own band longer than I have, so I don’t have to say, ‘Hey Bruce, how about…?’ He says, ‘How about if I try this?’ and ‘How about if I try that?’ And he’s Bruce Springsteen, sure, try it.”
He added:
“It reminded me a little bit of when Bob Dylan used to call me up in the middle of the night and read his lyrics to me that he was working on for new records. And I finally told him, ‘Bob, would you quit calling me, because I’m not gonna say anything. I’m not a good sounding board because I like everything you do. I’m happy to hear this stuff, but I’m not that great of a sounding board.’
And it’s the same with Bruce. There are very few guys I ended up admiring, musically; Bruce and Bob are definitely two of those guys, and I’m happy to say I have a good relationship with both of them.”
You can listen to three duets of Mellencamp and Springsteen down below.
