Life goes On

Long after the thrill of living's gone

Having heard this song often over the radio, I set out to discover who wrote it and for what

I have just learned what the meaning of John Cougar Mellencamp's "Story of Jack and Diane" is all about, and I find it chilling, the realization, as well as the song. The lines "...Life goes on/even after the thrill/of living is gone," take on a scary meaning when you realize the thrills of life mentioned in the song are the high school days of the two main characters, who eat chili dogs and go behind the trees to copulate.

The point is that the free-wheeling adolescent days recollected eventually end, and that life goes on for these two people. They remain in the place that once was the setting of their thrills, which occurred solely because of their youth and the newness of the world that comes with youth. There is no thrill in their lives afterwards, the song implies, so what does that make of their lives now, when they are going on without the thrills? The dreams of Jack becoming a football star make it even more poignant.

Not tragic necessarily, or wasted even, just lost.

"Gonna let it rock Let it roll Let the Bible Belt come and Save my soul Hold on to sixteen as long as you can Changes come around real soon Make us women and men

Oh yeah life goes on Long after the thrill of livin' is gone Oh yeah say life goes on Long after the thrill of livin' is gone, they walk on

Little ditty about Jack and Diane Two American kids done the best they can