John Prine: A Diamond in the Rough

   
A long time ago I quit listening to loud rock and roll. I had found Dylan's Blood on the Tracks in a tiny little record bin at The R&M Drug store, and my life changed forever. It reminds me of when people talk about how they found Jesus. No disrespect to Jesus or nothing, but I was just so moved by the beauty of those lyrics that something inside of me changed. That's simplest and most honest way I can describe it.

So, I went looking for people who could write words to simple chord structures, who could make me smile and look at world from a new, more mature perspective, one that appreciated the beauty of words set to simple music.

It wasn't too much afterwards that I found out about Diamonds in the Rough. I think I read about it in a Playboy Magazine review first. And I don't give a rat's ass what anybody says, that album released in 1972 is one of the greatest collection of music lyrics ever created. 
  
I wouldn't say Prine peaked early though because he just kept on and on writing great song lyrics. Take for example the lyrics to When I Get To Heaven off his last CD The Tree of Forgiveness. 

Then as God as my witness
I'm gettin' back into show business
I'm gonna open up a nightclub called
'The Tree of Forgiveness'
And forgive everybody
Ever done me any harm

Or the chorus to the Lonesome Friends of Science Say.

 The lonesome friends of science say
 The world will end most any day"
 Well, if it does, then that's okay
 'Cause I don't live here anyway
 I live down deep inside my head
 Where long ago I made my bed
 I get my mail in Tennessee
 My wife, my dog, my kids, and me

What separates true artists from the posers is that the great ones can just pull shit out of their ass that makes the rest of us look lame. John Prine was one of them dudes. I'm going to miss him with the same kind of hurt that I miss my Dad and my childhood dog Pepe.

I'm just going to let the lyrics to the songs Diamonds in Rough do the talking.

Everybody - About  conversation he had with Jesus who he ran into while out "sailing on the ocean, sailing on the sea."

'Cause Everybody needs somebody that they can talk to
Someone to open up their ears
And let that trouble through
Now you don't have to sympathize
Or care what they may do
But everybody needs somebody that they can talk to

Torch Singer - A song about being being worldly weary.

(I) Picked through the ashes
Of the torch singer's song
And I ordered my money around
For whiskey and pain both taste the same
During the time they go down


Souvenirs- one of my favorite all time songs (in its entirety). "Broken hearts and dirty windows, make life difficult to see." Oh, what I'd give to have written that phrase.

All the snow has turned to water
Christmas days have come and gone
Broken toys and faded colors
Are all that's left to linger on
I 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

Memories they can't be boughten
They can't be won at carnivals for free
Well, it took me years to get those souvenirs
And I don't know how they slipped away from me.

Broken hearts and dirty windows
Make life difficult to see
That's why last night and this mornin'
Always look the same to me

I hate reading old love letters
For they always bring me tears
I can't forgive the way they rob me
Of my sweetheart's souvenirs

The Late John Garfield Blues

An old man sleeps with his conscience at night
Young kids sleep with their dreams
While the mentally ill sit perfectly still
And live through life's in-betweens

Sour Grapes - About a girl leaving him.

I couldn't care less if she never come back
I was gonna leave her anyway
And all the good times that we shared
Don't mean a thing today


Billy The Bum - This song breaks my heart everytime I hear it.

And he was just a gentle boy
A real florescent light
Cried pennies on Sunday morning
Laughs nickels on Saturday night
And your bullets they can't harm him
Nor your knives tear him apart
Humiliation killed him
God bless his little heart

The Frying Pan - I love the way he could elevate the shit out the more mundane moments of life.

And I miss the way she used to yell at me
The way she used to cuss and moan
And if I ever go out and get married again
I'll never leave my wife at home

Yes, I Guess they Ought to Name a Drink After You - Wherein he rethinks the whole sitting on a barstool crying in my beer genre.

Oh I get drunk most every night
Seems like all we do is fight
The more I drink
The less I feel blue
Sometimes I feel like an awful fool
Spendin' my life on an old bar stool
And yes I guess they oughta name a drink after you

Take the Star Out of the Window- About coming home from Vietnam.

Robert was a sailor
For the best years of his life
His captain was his mother
And the ocean was his wife
Only fresh out of the cradle
Life's one and only spring
He was sworn to do his duty
And got blood on his high school ring

The Great Compromise - Another favorite, one of the most beautiful uses of allegory in a song lyric ever. I got an A in a college speech class talking about this song.

I knew a girl who was almost a lady
She had a way with all the men in her life
Every inch of her blossomed in beauty
And she was born on the fourth of July
Well she lived in an aluminum house trailer
And she worked in a juke box saloon
And she spent all the money that I give her
Just to see the old man in the moon

Clocks and Spoons - He had a darkside too, about contemplating suicide.

Clocks and spoons and empty rooms
It's raining out tonight
What a way to end a day
By turnin' out the light
Shoot the moon right between the eyes
I'm sending most of me to sunny countryside

Rocky Mountain Time - Just beautiful. I would love to write something this nice.

Christ I'm so mixed up and lonely
I can't even make friends with my brain
I'm too young to be where I'm going
But I'm too old to go back again

Diamonds in the Rough - He covered this old Carter family tune as the last song on the album. So appropriate.

When Jesus comes to claim us
And says it is enough
The diamonds will be shining
No longer in the rough


  John Prine wrote a shitload of great lyrics. And like I said, I don't think he ever peaked. But when he wrote the songs to Diamonds in the Rough, he must have been saving up the best ones, trying to make a big splash or something.