Songfacts®:

• This is a re-working of a traditional folk song with new lyrics suggesting that President Bush is a warmonger who is possibly motivated by oil profits.
• This blunt, political song generated a lot of controversy upon the release of Trouble No More. Mellencamp told Mojo magazine December 2008 that he had to put up with a huge amount of abuse back home in Indiana. He explained: "People were driving past my house throwing s—t and yelling and giving my wife Elaine the finger as she drove down the street. I was driving to the airport one day with the boys (about four and eight then) and they played the song on the radio. A listener calls and says, 'I don't know who I hate the most, that John Mellencamp or Saddam Hussein.' It really freaked the kids out and it pissed me off. We had to get security to come around the school playground because the teachers thought people might harm them."