A few weeks ago I did something I haven't done in a long time: browse through the stock and my local record store. I was happily stunned to find that John Prine had released a new CD,
Fair & Square, his first with all new, original material in 10 years. For me this was one of those precious moments with no decisions to make, just buy it. I wasn't disappointed, though it appears some of his conservative fans might be.
I became a John Prine fan back in high school (mid-70s) after a friend turned me on to his Common Sense album and have been hooked ever since. For those not familiar John Prine, he's a bit hard to pigeon-hole. Bonnie Raitt once introduced him as an American Treasure which seemed about right to me. His songs are both simple and cutting with phrasings that twist the common place back onto itself with a surreal sense of humor and often with lasting effect. You've heard of Cowboy poets? With John Prine, think Postman poet.
Listening to
Fair & Square on Father's day brought back a memory I have with my Dad. My Dad and I are quite different when it comes to politics. He's a Goldwater republican who spent his working life as an engineer at `the plant' dealing with those pesky OSHA and EPA regulations. He was genuinely relieved when I changed major in college from Environmental Studies to Physics. My dad was also a guitarist raised on Roy Acuff and Hank Williams. On a visit home in my late 20s, he and I ended up sitting on the porch playing our guitars and singing a few songs we both knew. At one point he started playing something that sounded familiar and launched into the chorus,
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.
Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away.
I was astonished and happily filled in the rest of John Prine's Paradise with him: a nice unexpected bridge that evening.
I don't usually think of John Prine's music as being particularly political. Rather, his songs tend to thread the common with the bizarre in order to poke at our confusion. Directed at politics, this would be like shooting fish in a barrel - it'd get pretty boring and depressing real quick. However, his classic 1971 debut album, John Prine, is laced with political songs. Examples include Paradise (above) as well as a couple of songs that at the time were clearly `anti-war'. Sam Stone is a song about an uncounted casualty of war, a lost vet who just didn't die until later at home. The haunting chorus begins,
There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes
Jesus Christ died for nothing, I suppose
And then there is one of his most famous early songs that reached anthem-like status at the time,
but your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore
they're already overcrowded from you dirty little war
now Jesus don't like killing no matter what the reason's for
and you flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore
The reason for this diary (and what I mean by "returns" in the title) is because the new CD contains a song with a political message that sets its sight directly on the intolerant right and GWB. The song's repeated tag-line (containing the song's title) is Some humans ain't human, some people ain't kind. No mincing words there. In the middle of the song is a spoken verse,
have you ever noticed
when you're feeling really good
there's always a pigeon
that'll come shit on your hood
or you're feeling your freedom
and the world's off your back
some cowboy from Texas
starts his own war in Iraq
Without that verse, the song isn't well targeted. With it, the rest of the song screams.
The new CD has a familiar sound to it but seems a bit slower paced then other John Prine albums. I was curious what others thought about it so I checked the reviews on Amazon. Mostly the reviews are 5-star though I saw a 1-star troll-like review that pointed out the `anti-Bush' song with incredulity. But a review that really caught my attention thought the CD was great except for that "mean-spirited name-calling" "Bush-bashing" song. He/She suggested Bush-lovers download the CD on iTunes and delete that song. I couldn't help but think of my brother as he could've written that review. When we were younger we had similar views on the world (and tastes in music), but something changed along the way. He became a real Limbaugh-loving republican. The review is telling; if something seems dissonant, if it just doesn't fit, you're better off to delete it. It makes me think of the filter my brother and the rest of the right has to put on so much of our culture just to maintain their world view. Does he now have to go back and `delete' those memories of an earlier John Prine? Or even take it a step further and recast him as a liberal villain? John Prine didn't change, my brother did.
I also checked up on John Prine's tour dates and found a review of his current tour. The author wrote that when John Prine sang Your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore his initial reaction was nostalgic, but as he listened to the song, he was struck by its relevance to today. After the song, John Prine told the crowd he had stopped singing that Vietnam era song 25 years ago, but said
"I started singing it again at the request of the President of the United States of America. It wasn't a formal request mind you, but he's really been asking for it"
Yep, John Prine is back.