Live And Learn – Joe Public | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Pop (#4), R&B (#3), and Dance (#36); 1992

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

Joe Public, one of the proponents of New Jack Swing in the early 1990’s, hailed from Buffalo, NY. Despite their John Doe-like single artist name, Joe Public was, in reality, a funk band made up of Kevin Scott, Joe Carter, Joseph Sayles, and Dwight Wyatt.

JP’s self-titled first album moved to #23 on Billboard‘s R&B chart and #2 on the trade mag’s Heatseeker list for new artists. Live And Learn was the band’s coming-out single, built on samples from James Brown (Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved ), Brown’s backup band, The J.B.’s (The Grunt), and Sly & The Family Stone (Sing A Simple Song).

The public approved and gave Joe Public a crossover smash. I Miss You came next. Even though it was another R&B top tenner, the sophomore single missed the Top 40.

I’ve Been Watchin’ and Easy Come, Easy Go spent a few weeks in the lower half of the R&B list before Joe Public faded into musical history.

This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.

Produced by:

  • Joe Public
  • Lionel Job

Lyrics Written by:

  • Dwight Wyatt
  • Jake Carter
  • Joe Sayles
  • Kevin Scott
  • Nathan Sayles

Check Out all the Song Meanings of the 90s
Top 100 Songs Of The 1990s

Ed Osborne

Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).