Tag: Buzzin’ Cousins

While researching a post about Joe Ely I came across this band. What a band it was. This was a one-off supergroup that was formed in the 1990s. I love jangle and this song has it…it’s called Sweet Suzanne and was written by John Mellencamp…he did assemble a supergroup. They all take turns singing lines…

The members included John Mellencamp, Joe Ely, Dwight Yoakam, John Prine, and James McMurtry. Mellencamp said this was his answer to The Travelin’ Wilburys. The band’s one-and-done status was by design, Mellencamp said. I wouldn’t expect an album or anything, It really was a one-shot deal.

In 1992, Mellencamp made his acting and directorial debut in the film Falling From Grace, a drama that cast the Midwestern singer as a country-music star who gets caught up in a Jerry Springer-level family drama during a trip home to Indiana. He needed another song for the soundtrack album.

The band all traveled to Bloomington Indiana to record the song in Mellencamp’s studio. They all stayed in a Best Western and McMurtry said: “Not long after I checked in, there was a knock on my door. I opened the door and there was John Prine and Joe Ely. Prine had a half-empty pint bottle of vodka in his hand and a big grin on his face. I don’t remember what happened after that.”

This song was from the Falling From Grace soundtrack. The song was an outtake from either The Lonesome Jubilee or Big Daddy album. Sweet Suzzane peaked at #68 on the Billboard Country Charts in 1992.

Released as a single to country radio, the song ended up being nominated for the 1992 CMA Award for Vocal Event of the Year. It lost to Marty Stuart and Travis Tritt’s This One’s Gonna Hurt You (For a Long, Long Time).

Sweet Suzanne

Now, Right now,
Look at the place I`m in,
When I think about things that I could have done
It´s impossible for me to pretend.
But I see it now as the lights grow dim
and the world starts to close its eyes.
I just wanted to say goodnight,
Sweet Suzanne.
I hear the music playin`
but I no longer understand,
Around the corner, down the street
It’s got to be better than where I am.
I see it all now, as the light grows dim
And the world starts to close its eyes.
I just wanted to say goodnight,
Sweet Suzanne.
I just wanted to say goodnight,
Just wanted to see if everything was all right,
Just wanted to say goodnight,
Sweet Suzanne.
Time goes by
Oh, so quietly,
Hazy days and memories
And in the end there was only me.
Wouldn`t have been, I ask sometimes,
But I see myself inside this rhyme.
Enjoyed what I had back then,
Would I do it again?
Well, I see it now
As the lights grow dim
I just wanted to say goodnight,
Sweet Suzanne.
I just wanted to say goodnight,
I just wanted to see if everything`s all right
Just wanted to say goodnight,
Sweet Suzanne.
I just wanted to say goodnight,
I just wanted to see if everything` s all right,
I just wanted to say goodnight,
Sweet Suzanne.