Songoftheday 7/18/13 - They like to get you in a compromising position, they like to get you there and smile in your face...

John "Cougar" Mellencamp - "Authority Song"
from the album Uh-Huh (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #15 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 9

Today's Song of the Day is by American Heartland singer/songwriter John Mellencamp, whose first album adding his true surname (but keeping the "Cougar" he had gone by for the moment) had spun off two top-10 hits with "Crumblin' Down" and "Pink Houses". The third track released as a single was John's attempt to revise the "I Fought The Law" theme for this decade, and sounded like he did back in his rambunctious American Fool days on "Authority Song"...

"Authority Song" made the top-20 on the American pop and rock charts in May of 1984.

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..and here's a couple of performances of the song...here he is on TV promoting the record..

...of course John was a big part of Farm Aid, and he's done this song at most of them...

...and finally, here he is performing it his induction at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 with his son Speck...

Up tomorrow: Grrl rockers do a flip.