John from 72712"Cause the simple man baby pays the thrills, The bills and the pills that kill"- Can anyone suggest a meaning for this lyric? A simple explanation might be: "Cause the simple man baby pays (for) the thrills, The bills and the pills that kill" I found a quote that Mellencamp was disappointed with the last verse of Pink Houses which I think is this verse.My interpretation of the song in general is that there are two different versions of America, one for the wealthy, and one for everyone else, and that the lyrics of the last verse were just another example of that. Meaning (to me) that wealthy people can go on vacations to wherever they want without a care in the world (and no thought for those who don't have the means), but working class people can't do that, their "thrills" cost them big-time - either in the form of bills for vacations and other things they can't afford (loans, credit card debt, etc.), or by turning to drugs as an escape from the endless cycle and struggle of living paycheck to paycheck. BUT (on the other hand) "the simple man pays for thrills - with bills, and pills that kill". My interpretation of those particular lyrics is that they refer back to the line "Well there's people, and more people, what do they know.Go to work in some high rise, and vacation down at the Gulf of Mexico". Checotah James from NcThis comment is for "John from 72712".Today's(21st c.) music is little pink pop songs. A big row of houses(subdivision) all identical. George from Vancouver, Canadahmmph, I'd heard, in the '80s that this song is referencing the cookie cutter houses that stood or he lack of imagination in modern American architecture/etc.There is a little bit of Jackie Brown in all of us. Well done John! Your songs have always been my favorites. I loved the spirit and talent of the kid way back then, and have loved his music and career that followed. He sometimes was bare-footed and did not have a pen, pencil, or notebook, but always had a guitar on his shoulder and a big smile on his face! He would often sit around for hours playing and singing for/with his classmates after class. ColoradoJohn was a student in one of my Geography classes at Vincennes University in the early 1970's. But if I hadn't found the teacher/band (with a very, very experienced guitar player about 12 years older than me, and a great bassist that the Nashville singer/songwriters would tap for live work when the swung through town who was about 15+ years older than me), the guitar would have remained a mystery. But within the limits of my ability (which are enough for anything I want to play) I can generally figure stuff out pretty quickly. I was about to quit, UNTIL I found a good teacher and joined a band, and they straightened me out. I kept finding stuff and thinking: (1) there's no WAY I can do that and (2) it sounds very close, but not QUITE right. And it made me think the guitar was INCREDIBLY hard. Rather than as how do I go from playing this "D" to playing the riff without missing a beat? And if it is scale-based rather than chord-based, chances are the tutorial is NOT showing the easiest or most natural way to play it. These often are much harder to play (the same part) because they are done almost without reference to the chords, or at most based on scales that work over the chords. You might find Tab and YouTube tutorials done by those who are of the same mind. If you came of age "Post" you may think of riffs and solos in isolation, and not based on the chords. And find them around the chords, because that's the way you can actually play them easily, in a band setting and maybe while singing. And you probably think of riffs as largely chord-based. You probably learned chords early on, and how to move them around the neck and find them. If you came of age "Pre" you probably learned with someone who knew a bit of guitar. I have this working theory: stuff like this depends very much on whether you "came of age" on the guitar pre-tab/Internet/YouTube or post.
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