Mellencamp's 1996 album Mr. Happy Go Lucky but didn't make the final track listing. The version included on Sad Clowns & Hillbillies is from the mid-1990s Mr. Happy Go Lucky recording sessions, but Mellencamp added a few new elements to the recording, such as backing vocals from Carter. There are also two covers songs on the album – the first is "Mobile Blue" from Mickey Newbury's 1971 album Frisco Mabel Joy, the second is the little-known 1970 Jerry Hahn Brotherhood folk song "Early Bird Cafe," which Mellencamp has covered at various times throughout his career on solo acoustic guitar. Mellencamp saw the Jerry Hahn Brotherhood open for Frank Zappa in the early 1970s at Middle Earth in Indianapolis and has had an affinity for "Early Bird Cafe" ever since. In 2009, he performed "Early Bird Cafe" solo acoustic on the NPR show Fresh Air and told host Teri Gross that it is his "party song." Song insights Grandview: This ode to life in a trailer park was originally recorded by Mellencamp during the 1992/93 sessions for his Human Wheels album. The version on Sad Clowns & Hillbillies was recorded in late 1993, when Mellencamp held recording sessions for 6-8 new songs to be included on a box set that was going to be titled "Nothing Like We Planned" but was later scrapped. At the time, David Grissom, Mellencamp's guitar player on Whenever We Wanted and Human Wheels, had recently left the band. Mellencamp temporarily filled the void with former Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin, who was featured on "Grandview" and "Miss Missy", another song from the late 1993 sessions that ultimately wound up on Mellencamp's 1998 self-titled album. Also featured on "Grandview" and "Miss Missy" was former Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch, who at the time had recently parted ways with Petty and was called on to temporarily replace Kenny Aronoff, Mellencamp's primary drummer. Aronoff and Mellencamp were at odds at the time over Mellencamp's belief that Aronoff was taking on too much session work outside the band. Aronoff would later return to record two more albums with Mellencamp, 1994's Dance Naked and 1996's Mr. Happy Go Lucky, before leaving the band for good. "That song was written many, many years ago by myself and my cousin, Bobby Clark", Mellencamp told American Songwriter magazine. "It's been hanging around the vault since forever. I'd pull it out