Great man, great song.
So long, John.
See you again,
A little further down the road.
WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
Welcome to the New American Digest: 2001-2022
After scanning its face again and again,
I began to scale it, picking my holds
With intense caution. About half-way
To the top, I was suddenly brought to
A dead stop, with arms outspread
Clinging close to the face of the rock
Unable to move hand or foot
Either up or down. My doom
Appeared fixed. I MUST fall.
There would be a moment of
Bewilderment, and then,
A lifeless rumble down the cliff
To the glacier below.
My mind seemed to fill with a
Stifling smoke. This terrible eclipse
Lasted only a moment, when life blazed
Forth again with preternatural clearness.
I seemed suddenly to become possessed
Of a new sense. My trembling muscles
Became firm again, every rift and flaw in
The rock was seen as through a microscope,
My limbs moved with a positiveness and precision
With which I seemed to have
Nothing at all to do.
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of
universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I
reach my hands and play with pebbles of
destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs
reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive
in the universe.
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I will miss him very much. In times of trouble, or just plain old sadness his music was always there for me. I will forever hold in my heart memories of a wonderful evening aboard the riverboat President listening to John and Steve Goodman.
Spent many an hour learning and playing John Prine songs with my old college roommate who grew up in Chicago and was an early fan. Wonderful, evocative songs… Thanks very much, John. See you down the road…
https://youtu.be/nXbEFTv9zr0
First heard of John Prine in 1974 and marveled at the tenderness and winking good humor in his songwriting. To this day my favorite of his to pick and croak out remains “Angel From Montgomery.”
“The years just flow by like a broken-down dam”: Requiescat in pace, John Prine
The only time I’ve ever teared up at a concert was about 15 years ago hearing John Prine sing Sam Stone. I find Bob Dylan incomprehensible but Prine’s writing was spare, elegant, and meaningful. And damned funny at times. What a loss, what a blessing.
He lived long enough to *become* the old man narrating that song. But unlike that tragic figure, John Prine was well-loved and -respected, as we’re seeing now with the accolades for his work coming from across the cultural spectrum.
Rest in peace, John. Thanks for your brilliant, heartfelt music.
I discovered John when I was young Seaman Recruit in 1970 or ‘71 and he was like peas and carrots for me. I played and sang several of his tunes through the Navy and college and later I was fortunate to find a friend that loved him too and between us we prob knew and played 30 of his songs.
My work sucked up a lot of my time and I switched my focus for a number of years to seriously study classical guitar but memorizing classical pieces takes a lot of time and focus and it is not nearly as fun as grabbing a steel string and kicking off a Prine or a Lightfoot tune.
John has blessed us with some funny and thought provoking songs that people will remember for a long time and we are blessed for having lived in his time. Thanks for everything, Johnny!!
So much, for so long. “Fair and Square” is my favorite album (and “In Spite of Ourselves” shows how well he did with other folks’ stuff). “Lake Marie”, “I Hate It When That Happens To Me”, “Paradise” — the list is endless. A large soul; I’ve been saddened for years that he didn’t get a Kennedy Center honor: he was an American treasure.
What an ending!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exr-DOWJ3A0
A bit prophetic, wot?
“Well, who’s gonna take your garbage out
When I’ve packed my bags and gone?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qFLzyuo6FA
“Where the air smelled like snakes and we’d shoot with our pistols but empty pop bottles was all we would kill”.So many lines from so many songs for so many years. Godspeed John.
“Far From Me” would be my favorite Prine song and it haunts me still. I was there once, long ago, when “A June bug flew from the warmth he once knew” …
I could not help but think that John would want this song sung at his funeral. I know I immediately started mouthing the words it when I read that he had died the other day.
Please Don’t Bury Me
Woke up this morning
Put on my slippers
Walked in the kitchen
And died
And oh, what a feeling!
When my soul
Went through the ceiling
And on up into heaven, I did ride
When I got there, they did say
“John, it happened this way
You slipped upon the floor
And hit your head”
And all the angels say
“Just before you passed away
That these were the very last words
That you said”
“Please don’t bury me
Down in that cold, cold ground
No, I?d rather have ’em cut me up
And pass me all around”
“Throw my brain in a hurricane
And the blind can have my eyes
And the deaf can take both of my ears
If they don’t mind the size”
“Give my stomach to Milwaukee
If they run out of beer
Put my socks in a cedar box
Just to get ’em out of here”
“Venus De Milo can have my arms
Look out! I’ve got your nose
Sell my heart to the junk man
And give my love to Rose”
“But please don’t bury me
Down in that cold, cold ground
I?d rather have ’em cut me up
And pass me all around”
“Throw my brain in a hurricane
The blind can have my eyes
And the deaf can take both of my ears
If they don’t mind the size, oh man!”
“Give my feet to the footloose
Careless, fancy free
And give my knees to the needy
Don’t pull that stuff on me”
“Hand me down my walking cane
It?s a sin to tell a lie
Send my mouth way down south
And kiss my ass goodbye”
“But, please don’t bury me
Down in that cold, cold ground
I?d rather have ’em cut me up
And pass me all around”
“Throw my brain in a hurricane
And the blind can have my eyes
And the deaf can take both of my ears
If they don’t mind the size, that’s right”
Rest in peace, John Prine.
And this…
https://youtu.be/yYHT-TF4KO4
When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I’ll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin’
Just five miles away from wherever I am
Good bye, dear friend that I never knew. Just the soul that you poured out into your songs.
Pretty good, not bad, I can’t complain…..
Thanks for asking.