Prineheads

dreadnut

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any other John Prine fans out there? I've been following him since '73, saw him on some PBS special, he did Sam Stone and Illegal Smile, and I was hooked.

If you haven't heard his latest album "Fair and Square", get it. It's classic Prine, you'll find yourself singing and playing along in no time. :D

He plays such simple chord structures yet makes them sound so beautiful on an acoustic guitar, plus he has had some great backup musicians a la Bonnie Raitt, Iris DeMent, Steve Goodman...

I think my old D-25 has grooves in the frets right where all the John Prine songs are. 8)
 

Mr. P ~

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I have seen Prine on stage more times than any other artist. I saw him while in college outside. I was sitting there thinking how great the sound system sounded and one of my friends that played electric in the jazz band came up and said the system sounded terrible. We usually agreed on such things. I started questioning him and asked how the bass sounded... great, the drums....great, guitar....great, voice...sounds like crap. Man that is not the system....that is the way his voice sounds. My friend was speachless....couldn.t figure why I liked him.

He is a songwriter, that is why!!!

A few years latter I saw a show in Memphis that was Mac Macanally, followed by Prine, followed by Bonnie Raitt (When Frebo was still playing the Tuba with her). Prine was drunk, kept forgeting the words and the crowd wanted Bonnie. The more iritated the crowd became the more Prine resolved to stay on the stage. He finally left under waves of Booing!!

Hey, I liked him drunk too! May have been the left-handed cigarettes floating around in the crowd!! 8)

I still love "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore"!
 

West R Lee

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Played a few Prine tunes myself.............still do. Illegal Smile and Paradise. And what was the one...let's see......something like "me and Loretta, we's just shootin' the breeze, her hair up in rollers her pants to her knees"? And "There's a hole in daddy's arm, where all the money goes"....what was that one? It's been a while....another one about dying with your eyes open in a room full of mirrors?

Can't remember the names of those, but I remember the lyrics pretty well.

West
 

West R Lee

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I personally put Prine in a catagory of genious song writers that could not carry a tune in a bucket..............along with Neil Young and Bob Dylan.

West
 

dreadnut

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go to the NPR archives and check out "All Things Considered" April 8, 2005, its an interview with Prine.

One of my old favorites is "Far From Me". The most recent one I learned is "Long Monday".

"Christmas in Prison" is a great 5-string banjo song. I have to haul that one out every Christmas season a few times.
 

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Dred,

I think all d 25's groove right on John Prine songs. F 20's & Dv 62's do all right as well. I never tire of John Prine songs.

West, It's "Dear Abby" where they get caught with her hair up in curlers & her pants to her knees.

"Me & Loretta we don' t talk much any more" is a line from "Hello in There"
Probably my all time favorite Prine song, Joan Baez even recorded it.
A powerful song about life. Prime Prine is good stuff.

I saw John Prine on a PBS special a few months back. I'm not sure how old he is but he looks like the poster boy for all things in moderation. Some hard recreational miles I suspect. Pickin & singing was good as ever, well actually the singing wasn't ever really what you would call good, but great songs & acoustic guitar . I think he was relatively sober for the performance.
 

dreadnut

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West, that's one of my favorite Prine lines: "How'd you like to die in a house or mirrors with no one around to close your eyes?" is from "Often is a Word I Seldom Use".

Yeah, he looks like he's been rode hard and put away wet, but he keeps cranking out the tunes! :D
 

Jeff

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Looks like I gotta go do some John Prine shopping. I wasn't aware I had missed so much of Prine's stuff. Somehow my life feels incomplete.

Not a good time, the dishwasher cashed in yesterday.

Thanks all.
 

dreadnut

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Yesterday, I couldn't get the song out of my head "Come Back To Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard".
 

Guildmark

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Memories of John Prine.

Been a Prine fan for a long time, and "Dear Abby" is in my set list once in a while. Saw him in concert only once, though. It was in '74 in Berkeley, CA. He was the headliner, but I have to admit he wasn't the one I went to see. I went to see the opening act, whom I had been following avidly for about three years already. I was kind of amused by the folks sitting next to me, who had come to see Prine, asking each other, "So, who is this Leo Kottke guy?". The crowd called for two encores before Leo told the folks he had to let John do a set, too. Prine's opening line was, "How about a hand for Leo Kottke --- taught him everything he knows."

It was a memorable evening!
 

Jeff

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Donald & Lydia

Went to bed last night with lyrics from Donald & Lydia drifting around in my head. Woke up this morning & it's still there.


same lines: "In a warehouse of strangers & 60 watt lights"

"Dreamin just comes natural"
"Like the first breath from a baby"
"Like sunshine feedin daisies"

"The made love in the Mountains"
"They made love in the streams"
"They made love in the valleys"
"The made love in their dreams"
........................
"But mostly they made love from 10 miles away."

Has to be one of the saddest tales ever told. Triggers "Kodachrome" images in my head. Probably had to be there.

Got the CD running right now, Souveniers is up.

Be back in a little bit.
 

dreadnut

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"Souvenirs" in the gear of "D" works great on the F-512 :D

some more of my favorites "Far From Me" and "6:00 News". Depessing as hell, but great songs.

"The past is runnin' faster, singin' harmony". Every time I sing that song I'm thinking "Damn, I don't want the past running faster, and I don't want it singing harmony either!"

John has a real way with words, its as efficient as haiku.
 

dreadnut

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hey gm, I saw him with Kottke too :D We've seen Kottke several times, what a treat he is to watch and listen to! I love to play "Louise" on my Guilds, capo up 3 and play it in "G".

Anyway, Prine came out and played for the next 2 1/2 hours non-stop, with and without his band - they took a break for an hour and he did everything solo until they came back - he chain smoked through the entire performance. This was before he got :cry: , and evidently beat :D , throat cancer.

Saw him again last year, still an amazing performer, and he draws a really diverse crowd of fans. I bought a souvenir John Prine / O Boy Records flyswatter...

There's flies in the kitchen
I can hear 'em in there buzzin'
and I ain't done nothin'
since I woke up today...
 

Guildmark

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Yo, drednut!

I bought my 76 year-old father tickets to Kottke for his birthday last year, just so he'd know what I've been talking about for the last 35 years.
He loved it!

Louise is one I've never tackled, but I've got a a few meager attempts in my set list: Stealing; Pamela Brown; In Christ There Is No East or West - and that's it. Now that I'm thinking about it, I think I'll pull them out at my gig tonight. Thanks for reminding me!

Ya know, I didn't know why Prine fell off the the radar screen for a while when he was sick, but I was sure glad to see him back after he got well. The man sure knows how to tell a story.
 

Darryl Hattenhauer

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Bruised Orange is one of my faves. Great Compromise, etc. But what am I missing in the song about peaceful waters? It sounds to me like he got a good start to a song but didn't know how to finish it.
 

West R Lee

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I can't seem to bring that up Jeff. Am I doing something wrong? It prompts me to open it, and send it to a file. I get the icon in my file, but nothing if I click the icon.

West
 

Jeff

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West,

I felt it was a miracle the site posted up, I got the address from way in the backroom on the PBS site.

Likely be more productive to simply search " John Prine "

this site has free access to quite a number of John Prine songs:

http://www.music.msn.com/artist/?artist ... nttype=bio

Surprised myself how quickly I caught on to a couple of the tunes. Basic 3 chord stuff, has to be basic if I figured it out. :shock:

The F 20 capo'd up two frets sounded especially cool with a Steel wailing away on one of the tunes.
 
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