The closing track of Sad Clowns & Hillbillies is a downbeat state of the nation address. It finds Mellcamp deliberating on race in 21st century America.

"I didn't want to write that song," Mellencamp moaned to American Songwriter. "I wasn't sitting around thinking about race or anything like that, but this voice just interrupts and says, 'Hey, you better write this down.' Aw, I'm doing something else. Leave me alone. I'm busy. But this voice grows stronger and stronger. 'John, you need to f--king write this down.' So I have to stop what I'm doing and write it down."

Mellencamp first dropped this song on January 19, 2017 - the eve of the 2017 Presidential Inauguration.