Thanks to my daughter...

This is the John Prine I was privileged to see in person, thanks to my daughter.  It's one of the best gifts she ever gave me.





I see all those memes people do, with questions like "What living person would you most like to meet?"  
I would like to meet John Prine, and then let him do all the talking.  I really have nothing to say to him.  I would sit there, mouth agape, and listen. 
I wish I could play guitar like John Prine, and he isn't even all that good compared to the real pros like Chet Atkins.  
I want to BE John Prine.  
On another note, his friend Iris Dement has cut a new CD that will be released very soon.



Here's to John Prine.

Why I love John Prine

I know he's not a great singer, but I love the lyrics he writes.  All of his songs either make me laugh, or make me cry.  This one hits the nail on the head and makes me smile every time I hear it.  Come on, you know we'd all be better off if we blew up our TV and threw away the paper.  And who doesn't love home-grown peaches?  

This entry is partly for my hard-of-hearing husband, who can never make out the words when he listens to John Prine singing.  Let's face it, the words here are the important thing!

SPANISH PIPE DREAM

She was a level-headed dancer on the road to alcohol
And I was just a soldier on my way to Montreal
Well, she pressed her chest against me
About the time the juke box broke
Yeah, she gave me a peck on the back of the neck
And these are the words she spoke

Blow up your TV, throw away your paper
Go to the country, build you a home
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
Try an' find Jesus on your own

Well, I sat there at the table and I acted real naive
For I knew that topless lady had something up her sleeve
Well, she danced around the bar room
And she did the hoochy-coo
Yeah, she sang her song all night long
Tellin' me what to do

Blow up your TV, throw away your paper
Go to the country, build you a home
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
Try an' find Jesus on your own

Well, I was young and hungry
And about to leave that place
When just as I was leavin'
Well she looked me in the face

I said, "You must know the answer"
She said, "No but I'll give it a try"
And to this very day we've been livin' our way
Here is the reason why

We blew up our TV, threw away our paper
Went to the country, built us a home
Had a lot of children, fed 'em on peaches
They all found Jesus on their own

John Prine must have lived in my town

Otherwise, he couldn't have written these lyrics: 


In a town this size, there's no place to hide;
Everywhere you go you meet someone you know,
You can't steal a kiss in a place like this.
How the rumors do fly in a town this size.
In a smokey bar in the backseat of your car,
In your own little house someone's sure to find you out
What you do and what you think
What you eat and what you drink
If you smoke a cigarette they'll be talkin' about your breath.

In a town this size, there's no place to hide.
Everywhere you go you meet someone you know;
You can't steal a kiss in a place like this
How the rumors do fly in a town this size.

Oh, I had a fight with my girlfriend last night;
Before the moon went down it was all over town,
How she made me cry, how I said goodbye...
If it's true or not doesn't seem to count a lot.

In a town this size, there's no place to hide.
Everywhere you go you meet someone you know:
You can't steal a kiss in a place like this.
How the rumors do fly in a town this size...
In a town this size In a town this size

John Prine said it best

People who are sad - sometimes they wear a frown
And people who are kings - sometimes they wear a crown
But all the people who don't fit
Get the only fun they get
From people puttin' people down
People puttin' people down

People without love - sometimes build a fence around
The garden up above - that makes the whole world go 'round
But all the people who don't fit
Get the only fun they get
From people puttin' people down
People puttin' people down

So cold, sometimes it gets so cold

You may love your wife - you may lose your family
You may lose you mind - just to keep your sanity
But the people who don't fit
Get the only fun they get
From people puttin' people down
People puttin' people down

People that are glad - sometimes they wear a smile
And people without dreams they walk the extra mile
But all the people who don't fit
Get the only fun they get
From people puttin' people down
People puttin' people dwn
From people puttin' people down
People puttin' people down

Things that make me smile

I've noticed when I'm listening to the literally hundreds of songs on my Ipod when it's on "shuffle" that if it plays for even fifteen minutes, three artists are sure to fall in there somewhere: Johnny Cash, John Prine, and Iris Dement. Obviously I have more of their music on my computer than all the others put together.

I've always been a diehard Cash fan. I listen to anything he ever sang, from his early songs in the '60's right down through the American recordings where you can almost hear death in his voice. All of them are precious to me. One of the best purchases I ever made was the DVD with some of the best portions of The Johnny Cash Show; I watch it a couple of times a year. It's impossible for me to see it without smiling; it takes me back to a time when I was a young wife with two babies and a big garden and several Jersey cows, when anything was possible.

I really don't know why I like Iris Dement's music so much, but even though we once drove three hundred miles to see her and she was a no-show, I still listen. She doesn't make me smile, though. She makes me a little sad.

Ah, but there's John Prine! I'll be on the computer or mopping a floor or cooking a meal, and I'll hear lyrics like these:

That's the way that the world goes 'round.
You're up one day and the next you're down.
It's half an inch of water and you think you're gonna drown.
That's the way that the world goes 'round.

I was sitting in the bathtub counting my toes,
when the radiator broke, water all froze.
I got stuck in the ice without my clothes,
naked as the eyes of a clown.
I was crying ice cubes hoping I'd croak,
when the sun come through the window, the ice all broke.
I stood up and laughed thought it was a joke
That's the way that the world goes 'round.

And I smile.

Then there's this one, which I never understood until I saw John live and heard him explain that he had set out to write the worst song ever, because the guy producing his album insisted he write one more song.

Father forgive us for what we must do
You forgive us we'll forgive you
We'll forgive each other till we both turn blue
Then we'll whistle and go fishing in heaven.

I was in the army but I never dug a trench
I used to bust my knuckles on a monkey wrench
Then I'd go to town and drink and give the girls a pinch
But I don't think they ever even noticed me.

Fish and whistle, whistle and fish
Eat everything that they put on your dish
And when we get through we'll make a big wish
That we never have to do this again again? again????

On my very first job I said thank you and please
They made me scrub a parking lot down on my knees
Then I got fired for being scared of bees
And they only give me fifty cents an hour.

He said after he sang it a couple hundred times, he sorta got to liking it. I just can't keep from smiling when I hear those lyrics. Every once in awhile I chuckle aloud, listening.

On gloomy days like these, any cause to smile is pure gold. Because it seems like the world around us is going to hell in a hand-basket.

John Prine live

I spent lots of time in downtown Kansas City when I was living on 11th street and commuting to work in Northtown. From 1962 through 1964, I transferred buses downtown every morning and evening right in front of Emery, Bird, Thayer. I used to stroll through that store sometimes, window shopping and catching a later bus home. I loved Wolferman's, too, and come out with some sort of gourmet jelly or muffins, feeling almost rich to have been able to go in that store and shop with the rich folks. There were wonderful book stores back then that had real character, and I could spend an hour browsing through their wares.

Now that area is called the Power and Light District, and seems to be the place to party (for folks who like to buy high-priced drinks, anyhow).

The venue for John Prine's concert is a place that was there back in the old days. I mean the really old days, before my parents were even married. When you walk into the Midland Theater, it feels like a step back in time. I enjoyed looking at the ornate designs on the ceiling and walls. Rachel wondered how much the huge chandilier weighed, and we both ventured a guess; I'm sure we were way off, though.

My daughter had volunteered to take me, knowing I've wanted to see John ever since I discovered him, which was only about three years ago. We ate at 54th Street Grill first, sharing an appetizer platter.

Rachel had allowed plenty of time to get there, so we arrived quite early. We walked up and down the block a couple of times; then Rachel noticed a Cosentino's across the street from the Midland.

"There's a Price-Chopper in the Power-and-Light district?" she asked.

I've read reviews of Cosentino's in some local blogs, so I knew it was geared more to people looking for a quick deli item than to grocery shoppers. We explored the store and checked out the prices. Some were higher than I'm used to, some not so much. It's nice enough, but it's no Wolferman's.

The actual show was everything I could have expected: Carrie Rodriquez opened; she's very talented, but not my cup of tea. So I was happy when she only performed for about a half-hour. I wanted to see John Prine!

The second-worst thing about the night (keep reading for the worst thing) was the forty-minute intermission, which I assume was so long because they wanted to sell all the beer possible. I wondered aloud to my daughter why people would pay $5 for a lukewarm cup of beer, and she told me the cost was considerably more than that.

Finally, the long-awaited concert began: John's always had a gravel-voice; when he sang his first song, though, I was afraid he wouldn't be able to make it through the session. He sounded like someone coming down with a severe case of laryngitis. He kept on singing, though, and sang all my favorite songs.

The worst thing about the evening was people who were so drunk they'd call out a request for a song while John was still singing another number. How rude! Oh yeah, and in the quietest part of one of his most serious songs, Hello in There, some guy hooted out "Woooooo" at the top of his lungs. Jerks.

But it was a good evening. Unforgettable, actually.

Thanks, Cliff, for footing the bill. Thanks, Rachel, for taking your mom to see somebody for whom you wouldn't have walked across the street.

I'm so glad I got to go; I can now cross "seeing John Prine live" off my bucket list and go on to something else.

Oh yeah, I'm seeing John Prine next weekend

The older you get, the more this song hits home.

We had an apartment in the city,
Me and Loretta liked living there.
Well, it'd been years since the kids had grown,
A life of their own left us alone.
John and Linda live in Omaha,
And Joe is somewhere on the road.
We lost Davy in the Korean war,
And I still don't know what for, don't matter anymore.

Chorus:
Ya' know that old trees just grow stronger,
And old rivers grow wilder ev'ry day.
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, "Hello in there, hello."

Me and Loretta, we don't talk much more,
She sits and stares through the back door screen.
And all the news just repeats itself
Like some forgotten dream that we've both seen.
Someday I'll go and call up Rudy,
We worked together at the factory.
But what could I say if asks "What's new?"
"Nothing, what's with you? Nothing much to do."

Repeat Chorus:

So if you're walking down the street sometime
And spot some hollow ancient eyes,
Please don't just pass 'em by and stare
As if you didn't care, say, "Hello in there, hello."

Did I mention I'm seeing John Prine next weekend?

Sam Stone came home,
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas.
And the time that he served,
Had shattered all his nerves,
And left a little shrapnel in his knee.
But the morphine eased the pain,
And the grass grew round his brain,
And gave him all the confidence he lacked,
With a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back.

Chorus:
There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes,
Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears,
Don't stop to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
Mmm....

Sam Stone's welcome home
Didn't last too long.
He went to work when he'd spent his last dime
And Sammy took to stealing
When he got that empty feeling
For a hundred dollar habit without overtime.
And the gold rolled through his veins
Like a thousand railroad trains,
And eased his mind in the hours that he chose,
While the kids ran around wearin' other peoples' clothes...

Repeat Chorus:

Sam Stone was alone
When he popped his last balloon
Climbing walls while sitting in a chair
Well, he played his last request
While the room smelled just like death
With an overdose hovering in the air
But life had lost its fun
And there was nothing to be done
But trade his house that he bought on the G. I. Bill
For a flag draped casket on a local heroes' hill.

Repeat Chorus

Oh yeah, that clip is twenty years old; it was made, I believe, shortly after John's struggle with throat cancer.

The best song John Prine ever wrote

The older I get, the more these lyrics ring true:

We had an apartment in the city,
Me and Loretta liked living there.
Well, it'd been years since the kids had grown,
A life of their own left us alone.
John and Linda live in Omaha,
And Joe is somewhere on the road.
We lost Davy in the Korean war,
And I still don't know what for, don't matter anymore.

Chorus:
Ya know that old trees just grow stronger,
And old rivers grow wilder every day.
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, "hello in there, hello."

Me and Loretta, we don't talk much more,
She sits and stares through the back door screen.
And all the news just repeats itself
Like some forgotten dream that we've both seen.
Someday I'll go and call up Rudy,
We worked together at the factory.
But what could I say if he asks, "Whats new?"
Nothing, whats with you? nothing much to do.

Repeat chorus:

So if you're walking down the street sometime
And spot some hollow ancient eyes,
Please don't just pass 'em by and stare
As if you didn't care, say, hello in there, hello.





Thanks to my nephew, Scotty, and his son; and to my cousin, Betty, and her husband Russ. These people sometimes stop by to say "Hello in there."

And one more video (dedicated to my husband, who hates both these singers)

From the "hippie" side of me

Yes, sometimes you just have to let your inner Democrat have it's say, even if you're a Republican.