Dear John,
I remember the first time I heard you sing was in the late 1970s or early 80s. I was with my lifelong friend, also named John (hereafter referred to as “Friend John”). Friend John had gone to G.F.Wilson’s in Florence, and bought a bunch of vinyl albums. They were selling them all because everyone was switching to the newest thing… cassette tapes. Anyway, Friend John still had a turntable and we were listening to some albums when he said, “Check out this guy…John Prine.” I said, “John Prine? What kind of music does he sing?” “He’s sort of a folk singer, I guess,”Friend John replied.
I wasn’t really interested. I was definitely a Rock-n-Roll guy, but Friend John said, “Just listen to this. This guy is just so…real.” And I heard these words and this song coming from the Radio Shackspeakers:
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 knees.
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.
That simple, profound song about a veteran who came back from war with a drug habit touched something in me. Truly, I became an instant fan.
I don’t know what it is about your songs, John. Maybe it is their raw honesty. Maybe it is the way you exposed life with all its joy, pain, and silliness. Something about your songs grabbedme, and I proceeded to listen to every one of them. Not only did I listen to them, I sang them! That my crooning was not all that great didn’t seem to matter as I rolled down the Natchez Trace with the windows down in the car (your crooning was not all that great either to be perfectly honest), but singing your songs helpedme somehow.
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 have both my ears if they don’t mind the size
The first one of your songs that I learned to play on my guitar was Paradise. I still pick it and sing it from time to time.
When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
And there’s a backwards old town that’s often remembered
So many times that that my memories are worn.
And Daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay.
Well, I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in asking
Mister Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away.
How many people have covered thatsong over the years? John Denver, Tom T. Hall, The Everly Brothers, Jimmy Buffett, John Fogerty…the list goes on. My favorite cover was done by Johnny Cash; he really makes you feellike he is from Muhlenberg County.
I got to wondering about that song, Paradise…wondering whether it was just a song. But your songs are never really “just songs,” are they? I knew my Uncle Red had worked and lived up in Kentucky for several years. One day I was talking to him and asked, “Hey, Uncle Red. I’ve been listening to this song, Paradise,”and I went on to describe the lyrics. “Is there any truth to this song?” He said,“Every word of it is true. I’ve seen what got left behind by those coal companies, and it’s a crying shame.” Friend John was right; your songs are so…real.
Your songs helped me get through a variety of seasons over the last 40 years; some of them happy and carefree, and some of them painful and difficult. Your album The Missing Yearshelped me through a divorce. The Missing Yearswas considered your comeback album, and while I played the heck out of that album, I had a comeback in my own life. I got married to Tammy in 1993, and while she has never reached the “I-can-sing-every-lyric” status like me, she does have an appreciation for your genius. One of the best birthday gifts anyone ever gave me was the year Tammy got tickets to see you live at the Alabama Theatre. It’s the only concert I ever attended where the whole audience (except for Tammy) sang every line of every song! I’ve got that memory stored away in the locker.
And singing your songs while I bang away on my guitar is helping me de-stress through this COVID-19 pandemic, too. I knew you were sick with the virus, but your death still caught me off guard. With all you had been through—two bouts of cancer, two knee replacements, a hip replacement and metal in your elbow—I never thought a virus would take you out, you son of a gun.
When you died last Wednesday, I saw a lot of people coming out on social media as big fans of yours. Honestly, I had to take a few days before I could write anything. I had to let all this process in me, maybe like you processed life before you wrote all those lyrics?
I couldn’t help thinking about your song, When I Get to Heavenlast Wednesday. I’m not saying it’s great theology, but it’s classic Prine.
When I get to heaven, I'm gonna shake God's hand
Thank him for more blessings than one man can stand
Then I'm gonna get a guitar and start a rock-n-roll band
Check into a swell hotel; ain't the afterlife grand?
Thank him for more blessings than one man can stand
Then I'm gonna get a guitar and start a rock-n-roll band
Check into a swell hotel; ain't the afterlife grand?
And then I'm gonna get a cocktail: vodka and ginger ale
Yeah, I'm gonna smoke a cigarette that's nine miles long
I'm gonna kiss that pretty girl on the tilt-a-whirl
'Cause this old man is goin' to town
Yeah, I'm gonna smoke a cigarette that's nine miles long
I'm gonna kiss that pretty girl on the tilt-a-whirl
'Cause this old man is goin' to town
Rest in peace, John. Thanks for all those great memories!
Yours truly,
Sam