Last Thoughts On John Prine

“And I smiled on the Wabash,
the last time I passed it
Yes I gave her a wink
from the passenger side.
My foot fell asleep,
as I swallowed my candy,
knowing he was in heaven before he died…”
‘He Was In Heaven Before He Died’ 

I remember… 
I was playing a pub gig in Edmonton’s west end, back in September of 1989.

I was on a set break when a guy sat down beside me at the bar and started talking to me about songwriters.

I was really just starting my education in “Singer-Songwriters”.
I told him I was a big Dylan fan.

He asked me if I knew any John Prine songs.

At that point in my life, I’d never even heard a John Prine song before.
“You mean you never heard, ‘Please Don’t Bury Me’”
“No man. It doesn’t ring a bell…”
“Oh man, you’d love him! Check this out!”

Then he starts singing…

“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,
that just before you passed away,
these were the very last words that you said…’

You said, ‘Please don’t bury me down in that cold, cold ground
No, I’d druther 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…'”

And with that, I was hooked.
I was a John Prine fan and hadn’t even heard a note yet.

Then he sang a bit of a song about a Vietnam Vet called “Sam Stone”…

“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…”

Are you kidding me!?!
I couldn’t believe someone could write something like that.

Then he sang a verse of “Dear Abby”…

“Dear Abby, Dear Abby, my fountain pen leaks.
My wife hollers at me and my kids are all freaks.
Every side I get up on is the wrong side of bed.
If it weren’t so expensive, I’d wish I were dead.
Signed, Unhappy.”

How could I not have heard of this guy, John Prine, before?

It made no sense.

“It don’t make much sense that common sense don’t make no sense no more…”
‘Common Sense’

The next morning I went to HMV at West Edmonton Mall and bought John Prine’s “Prime Prine”.

I learned every song on that record.
I started playing them at my gigs.

“Sam Stone”
“Please Don’t Bury Me”
“Grandpa Was A Carpenter”
“Souvenirs”
“Dear Abby”

Over the next couple months, I bought every John Prine recording I could get my hands on.

Then in February of 1992, I was in HMV again and noticed on the “New Release” wall a new album by John Prine called “The Missing Years”.

It was the first “new” album of John Prine’s that I ever bought.

I was finally “all caught up” on my Prine education.

Believe me, by this point, I was a goddamned scholar in all things “John Prine”.

Later that day, I went to see the movie “Falling From Grace” starring and directed by John Mellencamp.

Playing Mellencamp’s brother in law, was none other than John Prine.

“James Dean went out to Hollywood and put his picture in a picture show…”
‘Picture Show’ 

In September of 1992, I was in Dallas, Texas.

I was going out for dinner with some friends of mine.
We were sitting at a light in downtown Dallas.

There were a bunch of people milling around in front of an old theatre.

I read the marquee.

“JOHN PRINE – TONIGHT – 8PM!!!”

“Guys, I gotta get out here. I’ll meet you back at yer place later, John Prine’s playing!”

I hopped out of the car.
I’m sure they thought I was crazy.

I walked up to the ticket booth and bought myself a ticket to the show.

“John Prine – with special guest Iris Dement!”

I’d never heard of her before, but by the end of her first song, I was a lifelong fan.
She played a thirty-minute set.

Everyone loved her.

After a brief intermission, Prine walked out on to the stage.

I’d never seen anyone so at ease.
He’d tell stories and we’d all laugh.

Sometimes his stories would be longer than the song he was telling the story about.

My eyes leaked for the entire show.

I’ll never forget that night.

“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…”
‘Souvenirs’ 

In 1997, I was playing at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival.
So was John Prine.
(our names were side by side on the posters and t-shirts!)

On Sunday afternoon, I was walking along, minding my own business, when I saw someone I recognized standing in the middle of the crowd.

It was John Prine.

Everyone was just walking past him.

It was a blur of people and he was standing static.
He looked lost.

He looked at me.

“Hey look, Ma! Here comes the Elephant Boy!
Bundled all up in his corduroy.
Heading down south towards, Illinois,
from the jungles of East St Paul…”
‘Sabu Visits The Twin Cities’

“Hey ahhh… Do you know where Stage 5 is? My friend Iris is singing there and I wanna go listen to her…”
“Yeah man, I’m heading that way right now!”

He lit a cigarette.
I lit a cigarette.
We kept walking.

“Mr. Prine, I’m so excited to see you play tonight!”
“Call me John. Otherwise, I’ll think I’m in trouble…”
“Yes, sir. My name’s Mike.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mike. Boy you sure can’t beat this festival site, can you?”
“No sir. It’s really something, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is.”

I couldn’t believe we were walking and talking like long lost pals.

I couldn’t believe that we walked through a crowd of thousands of people and no one said, “Hey John!!!”

Bizarre.

As we were making our way to Stage 5, we could hear someone, with an English accent, hosting an event on Stage 4 as we walked by.

John says “That sounds like my buddy Dick Flohil…”

I couldn’t believe that John Prine and I had a mutual friend.
Except I called him Richard Flohil.

Prine’s show was the last show of the weekend.
My eyes leaked the whole time.

In 2001, I was living in Nashville.

One Friday night, Jenny and I were at Blockbuster Video in Green Hills.

Standing next to us, at the ‘New Release’ wall was…
You guessed it…

John Prine.

He was with his two younger boys, who would’ve been around 6 and 7 years old at the time. 

They were renting “Shrek” or “Monsters, Inc” or something like that. 

This time, he didn’t look lost, so I left him alone.

He paid for the movies, and then he and his boys said goodbye to the guy working behind the counter as they walked out the door.

Smiles and waves all around.

“Kiss a little a baby,
give the world a smile.
And if you take an inch,
then you give ‘em back a mile…”
‘Big Ol’ Goofy World’ 

They piled into a ragtop Cadillac and drove off into the night.

In December of 2018, I flew to Toronto to see Prine on his “Tree Of Forgiveness” tour.

My eyes leaked the whole time.

As he danced his crazy dance as he walked off stage, I remember thinking, “I may never get to see this again…”

Sadly, I was right.

Thanks for everything, Mr. Prine.

My deepest condolences to John’s wife Fiona and their boys Jody, Jack and Tommy.

Mike Plume

p.s. As I’m sitting here typing this with a lump in my throat, there are so many John Prine lyrics that are so apropos…

“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…”
‘Souvenirs’

“You can gaze out the window get mad and get madder.
Throw your hands in the air and say “What does it matter?”
But it don’t do no good to get angry, so help me, I know.
For a heart stained in anger grows weak and grows bitter.
You become your own prisoner, as you watch yourself sit there,
wrapped up in a trap of your very own chain of sorrow…”
‘Bruised Orange’

“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”
‘Paradise’

“When I get to heaven,
I’m gonna take that wristwatch off my arm.
What are you gonna do with time
after you’ve bought the farm?”
‘When I Get To Heaven’

and of course…

“For if heartaches were commercials,
we’d all be on TV…”
‘Come Back To Us Barbara Lewis Hare-Krishna Beauregard’

Photo by Danny Clinch