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One by Willie

John Mellencamp on "Funny How Time Slips Away"

One by Willie

John Spong

Music, Music Commentary

4.8833 Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

John Mellencamp, one of Willie’s fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members and a Farm Aid co-founder, has been a fan since first hearing “Funny How Time Slips Away” as a pre-teen in Seymour, Indiana. That song was one of Willie’s first contributions to the American Songbook, a reliable hit for other artists for nearly 15 years before Willie finally became a star, and it gets Mellencamp musing on parallels between early Willie and Bob Dylan—and how he later followed Willie’s lead in his own bitter battles with record industry overlords. From there we get into the unlikely origin of Farm Aid, the ongoing fight for the American farmer, and why Mellencamp thinks Willie deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Still Austin Whiskey Co makes award-winning whiskey completely in-house from grain all the way to glass.

0:08.0

They only use 100% Texas grains and distill right in the heart of Texas, where the wild weather helps age their whiskey to perfection.

0:15.0

Go to stillaustin.com today for delivery right to your door.

0:18.0

Still Austin Whiskey, the art of Texas Whiskey.

0:28.5

There's nothing better than pulling on a pair of Western boots and listening to some good tunes.

0:34.5

At Toccovis, we honor classic bootmaking traditions and craft every pair with premium authentic materials. Find a Toccova store near you

0:37.5

or shop online at Toccova's.com.

0:42.4

One by a Willie is produced and distributed by PRX

0:45.7

and we are brought to you by Still Austin Craft Whiskey

0:49.2

with additional generous support from Toccova's Boots.

0:56.3

Hey there, I'm John Spong, and this is One by Willie, a podcast in which I talk each week

1:01.8

to one notable Willie Nelson fan about one Willie song that they really love.

1:07.0

This week, we talked to Willie's fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and farm-made co-founder John Mellencamp,

1:13.8

about one of the first Willie's songs Mellon Camp fell for as a kid growing up in Seymour, Indiana.

1:19.2

Funny how time slips away.

1:21.5

The song was, of course, one of Willie's first contributions to the American songbook,

1:25.5

a reliable hit for other artists for nearly

1:28.1

15 years before Willie finally became a star himself, and that gets Melanchamp thinking about the

1:34.1

parallels between early Willie and early Bob Dylan, which in turn gets us into the parallels between

1:39.5

Willie and Melanchamp himself, especially when it came to dealing with bad ideas from record executives,

1:46.0

which in turn gets us into the unlikely origin story and ongoing significance of the nonprofit

1:51.4

they started together in 1985, Farm Aid. Now, if you're one of those people like I used to be,

...

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