—By Lydia Hutchinson
“I guess I always loved to write, but I never had anything to really encourage it. I never thought I could be a journalist or novelist or anything, I just had a wild imagination and songwriting gave me enough rope to run with it.”
From that imagination has sprung some of the most beloved characters, familiar scenarios, and quotable lyrics of any writer, placing John Prine in a league of his own. From his spine-chilling imagery of the Vietnam Vet “Sam Stone,” to the bittersweet recognizable characters of “Donald and Lydia,” to the sing-along “blow up your TV” chorus in “Spanish Pipedream,” Prine is a songwriter loved by his peers and idolized by his fans.
John Prine was born the third of four children on October 10, 1946, and grew up in a Chicago suburb. His parents were natives of Western Kentucky, and his father emigrated to Chicago to escape the drudgery of the coal mines. But John spent many summers of his childhood with relatives in the Appalachian coal-mining town of Paradise, where the culture, music, values, and blue-collar struggles all played a part in developing Prine’s imagination and insightful view of the world. And it was here that the groundwork was laid for his lyrical gems to come.
Prine wrote his first songs when he was fourteen after his brother taught him a few chords on the guitar. He played mostly for himself, his family, and “to impress girls,” but never really took it seriously. After graduating from high school in 1964, he worked for two years with the postal service and was drafted by the Army and sent to Germany. There he spent ‘66 and ‘67 as head of the motor pool, and drug his guitar around with him to entertain the guys in the barracks. After his Army days were over, however, Prine went back to delivering mail – all the while writing songs as he walked his beat.
Prine’s life and profession changed in 1970 when, after a few beers, some friends talked him into getting up at an open-mike night at a Chicago club called The Fifth Peg. After that, events began to happen to lead John down the path of becoming a professional singer-songwriter. He met and become close friends with Steve Goodman, who at the time had a hit out for Arlo Guthrie with “City of New Orleans,” and it was Goodman who played one of Prine’s songs for Kris Kristofferson, bowled him over, got the attention of Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records, and thus began the Cinderella story of John Prine.
John passed away on April 7, 2020. To remember him we take a look at the stories behind a few of his most loved songs. We will miss you, John. Thanks for all the music and smiles you’ve given us.
Dear Abby
I was in Europe and my first wife and I stopped in Rome for the day. I wanted a newspaper and all they had was the International Herald Tribune which is all the tragic news in the world crammed into six pages with no sports results and no comics. And yet here’s “Dear Abby.” She was the only relief in the whole paper. and that’s where I wrote most of the song—in Rome, Italy that is.
Years later somebody took the verse about the guy whose stomach makes noises, wrote it just out of kilter enough so it didn’t rhyme, and send it to “Dear Abby.” And she answered it in her column. She suggested that he seek professional help. She got loads of letters from people who knew the song and told her she’d been had.
Spanish Pipe Dream
I wrote this when I started performing. I thought the first song of the show should be up and bouncy. I can only play two rhythms—fast and slow—so this was written to go with my fast bouncy rhythm
Originally, the chorus wasn’t about blowing up your TV. It was something about the girls forgetting to take the pill, but sunk pretty low after that first great verse. I sounded like Loretta Lynn singing about “the pill.” Then I got the line “blow up your TV.” I used to keep a small bowl of real fine pebbles that I picked up on my mail route, and if somebody said something really stupid on TV I’d throw some at the screen.
Sam Stone
There’s no one person who was the basis for Sam Stone, more like three or four people; like a couple of my buddies who came back from Vietnam and some of the guys I served with in the army. At that time, all the other Vietnam songs were basic protest songs, made up to slap each other on the back like “Yeah, this is the right cause.” I don’t remember any other songs that talked about the soldiers at all.
I came up with the chorus first and decided I really liked the part about the “hole in daddy’s arm.” I had this picture in my mind of a little girl, like Little Orphan Annie, shaking her head back and forth while a rainbow of money goes into her dad’s arm. I think I invented the character of Sam Stone as a story line just to get around to that chorus.
Hello In There
I heard the John Lennon song “Across the Universe,” and he had a lot of reverb on his voice. I was thinking about hollering into a hollow log, trying to get through to somebody—“Hello in there.” That was the beginning thought, then it went to old people
I’ve always had an affinity for old people. I used to help a buddy with his newspaper route, and I delivered to a Baptist old peoples home where we’d have to go room-to-room. And some of the patients would kind of pretend that you were a grandchild or nephew that had come to visit, instead of the guy delivering papers. That always stuck in my head.
It was all that stuff together, along with that pretty melody. I don’t think I’ve done a show without singing “Hello in There.” Nothing in it wears on me.
Souvenirs
When I was first performing at the Fifth Peg in Chicago, I thought I should have a new song every week so that people wouldn’t hear the same songs they heard last week. I wrote this song in my ‘65 Malibu on my way to the club on a Thursday night.
Illegal Smile
I have to confess, the song was not about smokin’ dope. It was more about how, ever since I was a child, I had this view of the world where I can find myself smiling at stuff nobody else was smiling at. But it was such a good anthem for dope smokers that I didn’t want to stop every time I played it and make a disclaimer.
When I first started singing it I went on this underground TV program, and the only stage set they had was two chairs and this fake marijuana plant. I came on and sang “Illegal Smile,” and they kept having the camera pan in, real psychedelic-like, on the plant. On top of that, I got fine by the musician’s union for not taking any money to do the show.
Paradise
I wrote it for my father mainly so he would know I was a songwriter. Paradise was a real place in Kentucky, and while I was in the army in Germany, my father sent me a newspaper article telling me how the coal company had bought the place out.
It was a real Disney-looking town. It sat on the river, had to general stores, and there was one black man in town, Bubby Short. He looked like Uncle Remus and hung out with my Granddaddy Ham, my mom’s dad, all day fishing for catfish. Then the bulldozers came in and wiped it all off the map.
When I recorded the song, I brought a tape of the record home to my dad; I had to borrow a reel-to-reel machine to play it for him. When the song came on, he went into the next room and sat in the dark while it was on. I asked him why, and he said he wanted to pretend it was on the jukebox
Donald and Lydia
I had a book with names for babies. I actually called out names from the book, like you call the kids to dinner, trying to picture the person in my mind. I had Donald quick; Lydia was the tough one.
I can always tell first-time listeners at my shows when they laugh at that line “the fat girl daughter of Virginia and Ray.” the rest of the audience always turns and looks at them like, “Let’s see your membership card!”
0 Comments