My Soul's Got Wings

Album: Sad Clowns & Hillbillies (2017)
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Songfacts®:

  • This rousing spiritual features music written by John Mellencamp and lyrics written by folk legend Woody Guthrie, one of Mellencamp's heroes.
  • The song features Carlene Carter, scion of the Carter Family. Carter opened every show of Mellencamp's 2015–2016 Plain Spoken Tour and they decided to work on some songs together.

    "That one was fun to do," Carter recalled to American Songwriter. "It was really spontaneous. We all gathered in the break room and ran through it together, with John singing the licks for Andy York to play. There was a lot of handclapping and group singing, a great amount of energy. John even let me play Autoharp on it. We cut it so fast, and it was really joyful. That's the way it's supposed to be. If the song can make you smile as wide as humanly possible, you're doing your job."
  • Mellencamp and Carter first debuted the song live during their 2016 concerts.

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