NEW YORK 鈥� Some people, the songs just come out of them. For nearly half a century, they tumbled out of John Prine like nothing.
His songs -- compassionate, funny, sage -- make up an American songbook that would be staggeringly intimidating if it wasn鈥檛 so warm and welcoming. He began -- with a dare at an infamous open mic -- a fully formed songwriter who through calamity and cancer never once wavered in his wry, homespun humanism. He was, anyone would say, as good as they come.
Prine was raised in the blue-collar suburbs of Chicago by parents from Western Kentucky. He learned guitar from his brother. He was a mailman for a time, writing lyrics as he delivered letters. The first song he performed -- when coaxed onto that Chicago open-mic stage -- was 鈥淪am Stone.鈥� It remains one of Prine鈥檚 most heartbreaking songs. In it, he sings with a deadpan hopelessness about the fate of a drug-addicted veteran: 鈥淭here鈥檚 a hole in daddy鈥檚 arm where all the money goes/ Jesus Christ died for nothin鈥�, I suppose.鈥�
In songs that straddled Nashville country and Appalachia folk and fell somewhere in between Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan, Prine sang about characters like Sam Stone. The lonely housewife of 鈥淎ngel From Montgomery.鈥� The elderly couple of 鈥淗ello in There.鈥� He did so with
Picking only a handful of songs by Prine is an errand that even a fool wouldn鈥檛 dare. But here鈥檚 trying.
鈥� 鈥淎ngel From Montgomery鈥�: A masterpiece that will be sung for as long as songs are sung. Recorded on Prine鈥檚 absurdly packed self-titled 1971 debut album, it gained far greater renown when Bonnie Raitt covered it. It has one of the great opening lines: 鈥淚 am an old woman, named after my mother/ My old man is another child that鈥檚 grown old.鈥� Songs this good don鈥檛 belong to anyone. They belong to everyone.
鈥� 鈥淪panish Pipedream鈥�: In this bouncy anthem about dreaming of a more pastoral life, the advice of a 鈥渓evel-headed dancer鈥� rings as true today as it did in the early 鈥�70s: 鈥淏low up your TV/ Throw away your paper/ Go to the country/ Build you a home.鈥�
鈥� 鈥淧aradise鈥�: Prine wrote this one for his father, about a town in Kentucky. When Prine was serving in the Army in Germany, his father sent him a newspaper article about how a coal company had bought out the town, named Paradise. After Prine recorded it, he played a tape of it for his dad. 鈥淲hen the song came on, he went to the next room and sat in the dark while it was on,鈥� Prine recalled. 鈥淚 asked him why and he said he wanted to pretend it was on the jukebox.鈥�
鈥� 鈥淭he Late John Garfield Blues鈥�: A lot of Prine鈥檚 songs are so vividly told that they can seem like little movies. In this one off 1972鈥檚 鈥淒iamonds in the Rough,鈥� Prine uses the 1940s matinee star -- a brooding, working-class actor who died young but was a forerunner to Marlon Brando -- as a symbol of a sadness that 鈥渓eaks through tear-stained cheeks.鈥�
鈥� 鈥淪ouvenirs鈥�: Prine said he wrote this on the way to an early gig on a Thursday night after a day of delivering mail. For a song that sprung from such a songwriting sprint, it holds incredible, elegiac beauty. It鈥檚 about memory and death. Prine sings: 鈥淚 hate graveyards and old pawn shops/ For they always bring me tears/ I can't forgive the way they rob me/Of my childhood souvenirs.鈥�
鈥� 鈥淪ummer鈥檚 End鈥�: Prine released his first album of original material in 13 years in 2017, 鈥淭he Tree of Forgiveness.鈥� By then, surgeries had changed his throat, leaving Prine with a more gravely, weathered voice. He liked it more because he thought it made him sound friendlier. In the achingly tender 鈥淪ummer鈥檚 End鈥� -- a kind of bookend to 鈥淪am Stone鈥� -- Prine sings about a parent鈥檚 opioid addiction from the perspective of a child.
-- 鈥淟ake Marie鈥�: This song, off 1995鈥檚 鈥淟ost Dogs and Mixed Blessings,鈥� was often the rousing finale to Prine鈥檚 live show. With its oft-repeated chorus 鈥� 鈥淲e were standing, standing by peaceful waters/ Whoa, wah, oh wah, oh鈥� 鈥� 鈥淟ake Marie鈥� is Prine鈥檚 great goodbye song. In disparate tales that span decades, through love and death, it builds into a stirring, even cleansing jam and Prine鈥檚 farewell: 鈥淎www baby!/ We gotta go now.鈥�
See also: 鈥淪weet Revenge,鈥濃�淚llegal Smile,鈥濃�淏ruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow), 鈥� 鈥淢exican Home鈥� and all the others.
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
