Jack and Diane

Infobox Single
Name = Jack and Diane


Artist = John Mellencamp
from Album = American Fool
Released = August 5, 1982
Format = 45 Record
Recorded = 1982
Genre = Rock
Length =
Label = Riva Records
Writer = John Mellencamp
Producer =
Certification =
Chart position = * #1 (US)
Last single = Hurts So Good/Close Enough (1982)
This single = Jack and Diane/Can You Take It (1982)
Next single = Hand To Hold On To/Small Paradise (1982)

"Jack and Diane" is a 1982 hit song written and performed by American singer-songwriter, John Mellencamp, then performing as "John Cougar". It appears on Mellencamp's album "American Fool". It was chosen by RIAA as one of the Songs of the Century. The single spent four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 at number one in 1982, and, to date, is the biggest hit single ever for Mellencamp, especially with its accompanying music video.

According to Mellencamp, "'Jack and Diane' was written after watching "Splendor in the Grass," [a 1961 movie starring Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty] . 'Jack and Diane' was a terrible record to make. When I play it on guitar by myself, it sounds great; but I could never get the band to play along with me. That's why the arrangement's so weird. Stopping and starting, it's not very musical." Mellencamp has also stated that the clapping wasn't supposed to be included in the finished song. It was recorded with the clapping in order to help keep tempo and then it was to be removed. However, he realized the song didn't work without it.

The song's tone and lyrics are evocative of a nostalgia for the novelty of youth, influenced in part by Mellencamp's own life experiences.

Musical references

* Musical comedian "Weird Al" Yankovic was denied permission to use this song for his self-titled debut album. (Legally, a parody does not require permission, as long as royalties for using the melody of the original song are paid, but Yankovic has always asked permission because he doesn't wish to offend the original artist.) He, thus, chose to alter the musical content of his intended parody song "Chuck & Diane" and changed the title to "Buckingham Blues". Incidentally, however, "Weird Al" did get to do a parody of this song on "The Simpsons" episode "Three Gays of the Condo".
* The instrumental hook is sampled in the Jessica Simpson song "I Think I'm in Love with You".
* The song was mentioned in the opening lines of the Kenny Chesney song "I Go Back" ("Jack & Diane painted a picture of my life and my dreams").
* "Jack and Diane" is also referenced in the Bowling For Soup song "Why Don't I Miss You?" ("Two young kids like Jack and Diane...").
* Boy band LFO reference the song on "28 Days" ("...and it makes me wonder what kind of spell we're under. What would Jack and Diane do?"
* Mellencamp himself revisited the characters of Jack and Diane in his 1998 song "Eden Is Burning", one line of which is, "How could I have been so wrong about you?"

Other cultural references

* For the 2003 romantic comedy "Something's Gotta Give", starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, the theatrical posters and DVD cover showed a picture of each, with the two actors billed above the title as simply "Jack and Diane."