John Mellencamp Big Daddy released

Big Daddy John Mellencamp

Released: May 9, 1989 Peak: 7 US, 25 UK, 3 CN, 11 AU, 13 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.70 US Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Click on a song title for more details. Big Daddy of Them All To Live Martha Say Theo and Weird Henry Jackie Brown Pop Singer Void in My Heart Mansions in Heaven Sometimes a Great Notion Country Gentleman J.M.’s Question Let It All Hang Out Total Running Time: 41:43

Rating: 3.754 out of 5.00 (average of 15 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album Starting with 1982’s American Fool, John Mellencamp went on a roll. He had four consecutive albums that reached the top 10, sold at least three million copies and landed at least two top-10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Big Daddy ended the streak. It still went platinum and reached the top 10 but failed to land any top-10 singles. In fact, only one song – the ironically-titled “Pop Singer” – reached the top 40, peaking at #15. Part of that is the natural course of artists eventually peaking commercially. It also had to do with Mellencamp’s growth as an artist. Big Daddy is “his most ambitious and serious-minded album” AM featuring “a concise and stripped-down sound.” AM Like its predecessor, The Lonesome Jubilee, the “folk-inspired” WK features fiddles and the “lyrics largely take a serious tone” WK with social commentary. Those aren’t generally characteristics that make for the kind of albums that appeal to the masses. Mellencamp’s production style “give[s] his songs the appearance of being gritty statements of truth.” AM IN 1991, Mellencamp proclaimed “Big Daddy was the best record I ever made. Out of my agony came a couple of really beautiful songs.” WK Unfortunately, Mellencamp isn’t saying nearly as much as he believes he is, since his lyrics tend to be clichéd and half-baked, making much of the album feel pompous and self-serving.” AM “Still, when he does hit his target, like on the gentle ‘Jackie Brown,’ the stuttering, fiddle-driven ‘Sometimes a Great Notion,’ and even the self-pitying ‘Pop Singer,’ Mellencamp proves that his talents haven’t abandoned him.” AM The Songs Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

Big Daddy of Them All John Cougar Mellencamp

Writer(s): John Mellencamp Released: Big Daddy (1989) Peak: 33 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.44 streaming About the Song: “‘Big Daddy of Them All’ is the account of a parental authority figure whose selfish womanizing ways have led to his downfall, and it is an autobiographical song about Mellencamp himself. The ‘Big Daddy’ name was derived from a character in the old Tennessee Williams play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – one of Mellencamp's favorite plays/movies.” WK

To Live John Cougar Mellencamp

Writer(s): John Mellencamp Released: Big Daddy (1989) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.18 streaming

Martha Say John Cougar Mellencamp

Writer(s): John Mellencamp Released: Big Daddy (1989), Words & Music: Greatest Hits (2004) First Charted: 5/20/1989 Peak: 8 AR, 22 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.63 streaming About the Song: “Martha Say” wasn’t released as a single, but it did reach the top 10 on the album rock chart. The song is “an account of a stubbornly independent woman whose ways lead Mellencamp to caution her to ‘look out.’” WK

Theo and Weird Henry John Cougar Mellencamp

Writer(s): John Mellencamp Released: Big Daddy (1989) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.33 streaming

Jackie Brown John Cougar Mellencamp

Writer(s): John Mellencamp (see lyrics here) Released: July 1989 (single), Big Daddy (1989), Words & Music: Greatest Hits (2004), The Millennium Collection: The 20th Century Masters (2007) B-Side: “Seventh Son” First Charted: 7/8/1989 Peak: 48 BB, 45 CB, 31 AC, 82 CW, 20 AR, 2 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.30 video, 4.30 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: Big Daddy broke John Mellencamp’s streak of multi-platinum albums featuring at least a pair of top-10 songs each. The album’s lead single, “Pop Singer,” peaked at #15. The follow-up, “Jackie Brown,” didn’t even reach the top 40. While it wasn’t a big hit, Mellencamp said it “might be one of the best songs I ever wrote.” SF It also became a fan favorite SF and signaled the direction Mellencamp would go with his music in the 21st century – mellower, more acoustic-based, music which weighed heavily on social commentary. The titular character “is a destitute man who will never escape poverty.” SF It crafts “images of the hardships faced by those living in poverty” WK while also reflecting on the harsh view some take toward the poor. One lyric says, “Who gives a damn about Jackie Brown? Just another lazy man who couldn’t take what was his.” Mellencamp told Rolling Stone that he wrote the song about “me disguised as a poor guy - not as a guy that had been successful and pretty much lost everything, which in my mind I had, because I’d lost my daughters.” SF He was referring to his failed second marriage to Victoria Granucci, who had recently left their home in Indiana and took their daughters with her. SF

Pop Singer John Cougar Mellencamp

Writer(s): John Mellencamp see lyrics here Released: 4/29/1989 (single), Big Daddy (1989), Words & Music: Greatest Hits (2004) B-Side: “J.M.’s Question” First Charted: 4/28/1989 Peak: 15 BB, 11 CB, 12 GR, 20 RR, 2 AR, 11 CN, 8 AU, 4 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.32 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: John Mellencamp had a fantastic run in the 1980s with four consecutive top-10, double platinum albums which each featured at least two top-10 hits. Big Daddy ended that streak. “Pop Singer,” the lead single from the album, was the only song to reach the top 40 and it peaked at #15. Cash Box called the song “a strident declaration that Mellencamp is not a pop singer” WK and that “he drives the point home with a mean-spirited guitar growling across the track.” WK He makes proclamations like “Never had weird hair to get my songs over” and “Never wanted to have my picture taken” and “Never wanted to have a manager over for dinner.” The sentiment might seem ironic given his incredible success in the 1980s, but Mellencamp was vocal about his frustrations with the music industry. He was initially marketed as Johnny Cougar, a move he resented. After he hit big with American Fool, he added his surname and went by John Cougar Mellencamp for a few albums before finally dropping “Cougar” completely. He also exerted more control over his career in other ways. “He avoided common practices that musicians undertake, including meet-and-greets and radio station concerts.” WK He said that during his divorce with Victoria Granucci, he reevaluated why he became a musician. “Everybody was having to kiss everybody's ass. If you want to be on MTV, then come here and do this. All these backroom deals were getting made. I was like, ‘I don’t want any part of this.’” WK

Void in My Heart John Cougar Mellencamp

Writer(s): John Mellencamp Released: Big Daddy (1989) Peak: 4 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.30 streaming About the Song: “‘Void in My Heart’ is reflective song regarding Mellencamp’s position as an acclaimed singer and as one who has worked hard to make it but still he confesses: ‘There’s a void in my heart I can’t seem to fill,’ which is a reference to the turmoil of Mellencamp’s personal life at the time, as he was going through a divorce from his second wife Vicki when he was writing songs for this album.” WK

Mansions in Heaven John Cougar Mellencamp

Writer(s): John Mellencamp Released: Big Daddy (1989) Peak: 29 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.23 streaming

Sometimes a Great Notion John Cougar Mellencamp

Writer(s): John Mellencamp Released: Big Daddy (1989) Peak: 39 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.16 streaming

Country Gentleman John Cougar Mellencamp

Writer(s): John Mellencamp Released: September 1989 (B-side of “Let It All Hang Out”), Big Daddy (1989) Peak: 34 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.26 streaming About the Song: This is a “social commentary addressing Ronald Reagan’s presidency and policies. In the song, Mellencamp continually states that it is not Reagan’s interest to help the poor, but rather only his ‘rich friends.’” WK

J.M.’s Question John Cougar Mellencamp

Writer(s): John Mellencamp Released: 4/29/1989 (B-side of “Pop Singer”), Big Daddy (1989) Peak: 10 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.14 streaming About the Song: “‘J.M.’s Question’ is a broad social commentary addressing many diverse issues prevalent in the United States including the contamination of the environment and violence stemming from the constitutional right to bear arms among other issues.” WK

Let It All Hang Out John Cougar Mellencamp

Writer(s): B.B. Cunningham Released: September 1989 (single), Big Daddy (1989) B-Side: “Country Gentleman” First Charted: 6/3/1989 Peak: 42 AR, 17 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.07 video, 0.39 streaming About the Song: There is a “lack of rockers” AM on Big Daddy, but the finale, “a ripping cover” AM of a song first recorded in 1967 by the Hombres, is the exception. It reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was considered a mix of garage rock and Southern rock. It has also been recorded by Jonathan King (1970, #26 UK), the Nails (1984), Scrawl (1988), and David Lee Roth (2003). Mellencamp said the song was added to the end of the album as an unlisted bonus track because it wasn’t really part of the album.

Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine SF Songfacts page for “Jackie Brown” WK Wikipedia page on Big Daddy WK Wikipedia page on “Pop Singer” Related DMDB Pages: First posted 1/20/2009; last updated 2/16/2026.