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Check It Out (John Mellencamp song)

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"Check It Out"
Single by John Cougar Mellencamp
from the album The Lonesome Jubilee
B-side"We Are the People"
Released1988 (1988)
StudioBelmont Mall (Indiana, US)
GenreHeartland rock
Length4:19
LabelMercury
Songwriter(s)John Mellencamp
Producer(s)John Mellencamp, Don Gehman
John Cougar Mellencamp singles chronology
"Cherry Bomb"
(1987)
"Check It Out"
(1988)
"Rooty Toot Toot"
(1988)

"Check It Out" is a 1987 song by John Mellencamp released as the third single from his album The Lonesome Jubilee in 1988. The single was a top 20 hit, reaching number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.[1][2]

Lyrics and music

According to Mellencamp biographer David Masciotra, the song "describes the rewards and punishments of a typical American middle-class family" and professes that "our attempts to solve the mysteries of the heart and grasp the truth of humanity are fraught with disaster and disappointment."[3] Mellencamp biographer Paul Rees called its sound "uplifting".[4]

Reception

Cash Box said that Mellencamp's rough county-ish feel takes you into the heartland [of America]" and that the song "features a nice instrumental hook line that sounds like an otherworldly bagpipe and leads into the verses."[5]

Masciotra calls it "a uniquely powerful testament to the mystery of inner life".[3]

Music video

The video was shot as a live performance at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis on December 11, 1987 during Mellencamp’s massive Lonesome Jubilee tour.

Charts