George Green (songwriter)


George Michael Green was an American songwriter. His collaborations with his childhood friend John Mellencamp include the Top 10 Billboard hits "Crumblin' Down" and "Hurts So Good", as well as "Key West Intermezzo ", a #1 hit in Canada.
“George Green was a superb lyricist who played an important role in moving John Mellencamp along the road to seriousness as a songwriter,” Anthony DeCurtis, a longtime music writer and contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine, told the Bloomington Herald-Times. “His plain-spoken, poetic touch lifted many of John’s songs, and, I believe, helped teach John what was possible for him to achieve as a writer. John eventually internalized those gifts himself, and George provided a close-at-hand model for how that could happen."

Biography

Green was John Mellencamp's long-time writing partner. He was a classmate and childhood friend of Mellencamp's from Seymour, Indiana. In 1985, Green's wife appeared in the video for Mellencamp's Top 10 hit "Lonely Ol' Night". In addition to writing with Mellencamp, Green also wrote songs recorded by Barbra Streisand, Level 42, Hall & Oates, Jude Cole, Vanessa Williams, Percy Sledge, Gary Morris, and The Oak Ridge Boys among others.
Green died on August 28, 2011 in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the age of 59 after suffering from a rapid-forming small cell lung cancer.

Credits

Green's songwriting credits with Mellencamp include:
Green's songwriting credits with Carla Olson include: