214 Quotes by John Mellencamp

A lot of Woody Guthrie's songs were taken from other songs. He would rework the melody and lyrics, and all of a sudden it was a Woody Guthrie song.

If Woody Guthrie set the bar for American songwriters, Bob Dylan jumped right over it. No one I know will ever come close to possessing the beauty of melody and the use of language that Dylan shares with us, with ease.

I thought I knew a lot about music. Then you start digging and the deeper you go, the more there is.

The greatest thing that ever happened to (my career) was the breakdown of the record companies, because there were no more stupid questions about how many hits are on the next record. It was very liberating.

Most people in life, give up too early.

I'm the guy who wrote The Authority Song. Did they think I was kidding? Did they think it was only a song to entertain?

It's what you do and not what you say. If you're not part of the future, then get out of the way!

This is about black people selling out other black people.

We had an exercise in speech class in school, impromptu speaking, that I was always real good at.