Big Loud It’s ironic the fastest-rising hit of Jake Owen‘s career, “I Was Jack (You Were Diane),” happens to be a variation on one he promised he’d never sing again.
“This song to me is a really cool way of paying tribute back to John Cougar Mellencamp and a song that has been overly played,” the Florida native explains. “I did it in college, and when I left… I said, ‘There’s three songs I’m vowing not to play once I make it. And it’s gonna be ‘The Joker,’ ‘Jack & Diane,’ and ‘Sweet Home Alabama.” Because those were the ones every night I’d play multiple times.”
Ultimately, Jake’s happy to be able to be turn a new generation on to Mellencamp’s classic.
“To be able to have a new song that still has that little bit of a hint of the real one, but at the same time too is introducing people,” he says. “Like the other day, a guy on Twitter said to me, ‘Jake, thanks so much for introducing my kids to a song that was something that brought me up as a teenager.'”
“I clicked the little heart and liked it,” he adds, “because it meant a lot, because that’s really what this song is.”
The silver lining for Jake is that his Mellencamp-approved update on the rock-and-roll classic is also a concert favorite.
“I gravitate toward recording songs that are fun, that make me feel good,” he admits. “And a lot of it is due to the fact that I know that getting out there in concert, I selfishly enjoy playing song after song after song that makes people feel good.”
Thursday night, Jake takes his Life’s Whatcha Make It Tour to AT&T Field in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
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