Happy Go Lucky is the 14th album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp.

14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is his last Top 40 single in the United States to date.

We'd have Robert Johnson-type guitar licks playing with this rap rhythm underneath it.

Happy Go Lucky, "All Night Talk Radio," was included on Mellencamp's 2017 album Sad Clowns & Hillbillies.

After being released into stores nationwide, Wal-Mart found the depiction of the Devil and Jesus on the cover to be offensive, additionally stating that it looked as if the baby in the photo was dead.

In newer versions of the cover art the Devil and Jesus have been removed.

Below are the highlights from the insights Mellencamp shared with writer Marc D. Allan:[5] Overture: "I noticed when we were making this record ... that these melodies were real easy to recall.

When we were looking at a way to start the record, I called up Miriam (Sturm, his then-new violinist) and said, 'I'm going to send you the entire album.

When you write a good song – and I've written a lot of bad ones, so I know the difference – you kind of become elevated for a moment.

I just picked up a guitar, started playing some chords (and sang) 'Jerry's yelling at the man in the moon.'

When George and I wrote 'Rain on the Scarecrow,' it was out of a big, long conversation about the plight of the farmers.

(For Key West) George called me the next morning and said, 'I've got about half a set of lyrics written.

When I come to play these songs for the guys in the band, it's like bringing a little baby in.

I knew we needed an organ part – all these grooves are programmed on keyboards.

The guy goes out there and it was like Billy Preston with the Beatles, a big, religious, gospel sound.

Emotional Love (written by Mellecamp's bassist Toby Myers, marking the first time Mellencamp recorded one of his band member's songs): "I've always encouraged everyone in the band, for years, to go out and do their own thing.

Toby has written songs forever ... One day he asked me, 'Is it all right if I go out to Belmont and record?'

We took his track, took his voice off and put mine on, added some guitars and some background vocal parts.

Then Junior (Vasquez, who co-produced the album) added a loop and some percussion.

I was noodling and all of a sudden it was, 'Her majesty the queen's a pretty nice babe/I'd like to take her down to St. Petersburg some day.

(The song ends with elderly people talking about their lives when a bittersweet violin plays underneath.)

I told Rick, a guy who works here, 'Take a tape recorder and go to some old-folks homes and ask these folks if they're happy.

Jackamo Road: "That song had an entire arrangement with the band, but it just wasn't any good.

The only time the song sounded remotely good at all was when I played it on acoustic guitar – the way it ended up on the record.

He put a couple of loops on there and then we all sat there – me and Mike and Junior and Andy – and started cutting up these weird holes in the song.

AllMusic gave the album a mixed review, claiming: "John Mellencamp responded to his massive heart attack and close-call with death with 'Mr.

Entertainment Weekly also gave a mixed review, proclaiming: "Mr.

Now in his mid-40s, Mellencamp has turned his back on calculated Top 40 gestures in favor of mature theatrics and a thick sonic gumbo.

Happy Go Lucky is a mixed bag in the best sense: rife with ghosts, a healthy fear and a cocky embrace of middle age."

All tracks are written by John Mellencamp, except where noted.^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.