Cougar Mellencamp Satire

John Cougar Mellencamp’s 1985 song “Rain on the Scarecrow” embodies the tumultuous time experienced by American farmers in the 1980s. Mellencamp makes use of an emotional tone and depressing lyrics to chronicle the foreclosure and auction of a family farm – an unfortunate reality for many marginal farmers in the Midwest during the 80s. The extravagant boom of farming in the 1970s yielded record harvests between 1974 and 1979 , though the majority of which was funded through borrowed money. The 70s ended with a slowdown in production and a subsequent reduction in earnings. Many farmers, as a result, defaulted on their loans and had to stop production. They blamed it on the government’s tax laws and spending policies that were more favorable

Protests were organized by many farming organizations and even national news headlines. Amongst this social and financial unrest, Mellencamp partnered with Willie Nelson and Neil Young to put on the first Farm Aid benefit concert at the University of Illinois Memorial Stadium, with the goal of raising money to help these farmers . Mellencamp’s personal and political dedication to this cause is exemplified in “Rain on the Scarecrow” which further stands out as one of the most popular and direct musical references to the farm closure epidemic of the 80s. Ultimately, this song allowed a widespread audience to experience firsthand the unfavorable conditions endured by farmers during the 1980s, and operated as a political statement and anthem that is still relevant today. John Mellencamp was raised in rural Bloomington, Indiana and witnessed the growth and death of the farms around him. When he

However, the applicability of this song is endless when the lyrics are taken at deeper than face value. It starts with, “Scarecrow on a wooden cross, blackbird in the barn. Four-hundred empty acres that used to be my farm.” This verse provides an unambiguous glance at what has occurred in the narrator’s life. He is looking upon a naked piece of land that now belongs to someone in an office that will presumably never know it like he did. He is stricken with grief and mourns about the life that he once had that has now been taken away. This is reminiscent of the recent home foreclosures that the US has been experiencing. With the national debt skyrocketing and still relatively high unemployment – people are unable to afford their mortgage payments. They are evicted from their homes and sent to the streets. Instead of saying goodbye to 400 acres, these people are watching their homes get taken from