Author Topic: John Prine (Read 191 times)

phylo · « **on:** April 20, 2007, 08:35:05 AM »

I gotta call last night from a friend with an extra John Prine ticket. I didn't know too much of his music, but it was great. Highly recommended if you're into the outlaw-folkie kinda thing. Not an Alembican, but a great bass player was backing him up.

jbybj · « **Reply #1 on:** April 20, 2007, 09:16:21 AM »

oops, ytpo!

(Message edited by jbybj on April 20, 2007)

jbybj · « **Reply #2 on:** April 20, 2007, 09:17:13 AM »

but your flag decal won't get you, into heaven anymore, they're already overcrowded, from your dirty little war, now Jesus don't like killing, no matter what the reasons for, and your flag decal won't get you, into heaven anymore.

hydrargyrum · « **Reply #3 on:** April 20, 2007, 10:35:54 AM »

. . . her heart is a big as this whole damn jail, and she's sweeter than saccharine, at a drug store sale.

57basstra · « **Reply #4 on:** April 20, 2007, 11:54:16 AM »

....But fortunately I have the key to escape reality
And you may see me tonight with an illegal smile
It don't cost very much, but it lasts a long while
Won't you please tell the man I didn't kill anyone
No I'm just tryin' to have me some fun..

lbpesq · « **Reply #5 on:** April 20, 2007, 02:04:22 PM »

Dear Abby, Dear Abby, well I never thought
that me & my girlfriend would ever get caught.
We were sitting in the back seat just shooting the breeze,
with her hair up in curlers and her pants to her knees.

Signed,

Just married.

I've been a huge Prine fan for 30 years +. I've even written a bunch of John Prine songs. He's great. Definely worth checking out if you're unfamiliar with his music.

Bill, tgo

cozmik_cowboy · « **Reply #6 on:** April 20, 2007, 03:46:25 PM »

Oh Daddy, won't you take me down to Meuhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where paradise lay
Well I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

In 1977 I had the opportunity to sit and drink beer with a group of Chicago folkies, including John, at an Elizabeth Cotton show. Nice guy, and one of my favorite songwriters.

Peter

57basstra · « **Reply #7 on:** April 20, 2007, 06:10:19 PM »

Peter, actually 'Paradise' is capitalized in that it once was a real town with real people living in it that is now the site of a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) coal-fired electric plant, where the 'World's Largest Shovel' came and
'They tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.'

The double entendre is especially sinister in light of how TVA has actually wiped out cultures by taking land in our area for 'progress.' Some here got rich, others starved or are nearly starving.

Muhlenberg County, Ky., ain't far from my neck of the woods

(Message edited by 57basstra on April 20, 2007)

David Houck · « **Reply #8 on:** April 20, 2007, 09:35:17 PM »

Theres flies in the kitchen
I can hear em there buzzing
And I aint done nothing
since I woke up today.
How the hell can a person
go to work in the morning
And come home in the evening
and have nothing to say.

cozmik_cowboy · « **Reply #9 on:** April 21, 2007, 06:26:44 AM »

Thanks, David - as I grew up in strip-mine country in SE Ohio, that song always spoke to me. Even more so now.

Peter

tom_z · « **Reply #10 on:** April 21, 2007, 11:37:27 AM »

I'll chime in as well - I've been a John Prine fan for for over three decades too. Some of the first concerts I ever saw were Prine and Steve Goodman in Chicago. If I'm not mistaken Steve Goodman (may he rest in peace) and Kris Kristofferson were instrumental in Prine getting his first record deal.

lbpesq · « **Reply #11 on:** April 21, 2007, 12:34:36 PM »

Tom:

That's what I've always heard too. Prine was a mailman in Chicago and Kristofferson saw him playing at an open mike or something like that. Prine's Everybody and Kris' Jesus was a Capricorn were written for each other. I seem to remember owning a Kristofferson LP where the song list included Jesus Was a Capricorn (Owed to John Prine).

Steve Goodman was another great one. I especially loved his song about the Pirates in Chicago towing away illegally parked cars.

More Prine - painting a picture of life in the military:

There were spaces between Donald and whatever he said,
Strangers had forced him to live in his head,
He envisioned the details of romantic scenes,
After midnight in the stillness of the barracks' latrine.

Bill, tgo

tom_z · « **Reply #12 on:** April 21, 2007, 01:04:11 PM »

Right Bill - Lincoln Park Pirates - the Lincoln Towing Company allegedly towed cars parked legally too -

We break into cars when we gotta,
With hammer and pickaxe and saw;
And they said this garage had no license;
But little care I for the law!
Our drivers are friendly and courteous;
Their good manners you always will get;
'Cause they all are recent graduates
Of the charm school in Joliet.

Though, probably Steve Goodman's most famous song, made popular by Arlo Guthrie, is City of New Orleans.

And a bit more John Prine:

But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.

Peace
Tom

(Message edited by tom_z on April 21, 2007)

lembic76450 · « **Reply #13 on:** April 21, 2007, 03:14:37 PM »

You just have to love how these things happen,
John Prine is on Austin City Limits tonight in High Def in the Boston area.
My band has been doing Love, Love, Love for years. We will be playing Thus. night at The Century Lounge in Providence, R.I. Another good live music joint goes down, they are closing Sat. 4/28

hydrargyrum · « **Reply #14 on:** April 21, 2007, 04:22:31 PM »

Peter,

My father worked for Peabody's power and light as a welder. I can't listen to Paradise without a tear coming to my eye. He's truly written some gems.