John Prine and Nanci Griffith: The Speed of the Sound of Loneliness

No Depression went from one of the best magazines ever that wrote about Americana music, to being the best site today for the music. I check the site every day, to learn, to listen, and to enjoy.

Today there was this little treasure from 20 years ago. If you've ever been in a spot in your life where you just want to be left alone, you'll instantly catch on to this song. And, if not, Prine's and a young Griffith's voices just meld together, with Prine's voice taking on the characteristics of a footfalls on a gravel road and Griffith's like wind on the trees.

Please Don't Bury Me

Woke up this morning
Put on my slippers
Walked in the kitchen and died
And oh what a feeling!
When my soul
Went thru 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
Just before you passed away
These were the very last words
That you said:

Chorus:
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
Give my stomach to Milwaukee
If they run out of beer
Put my socks in a cedar box
Just get "em" out of here
Venus de Milo can have my arms
Look out! I've got your nose
Sell my heart to the junkman
And give my love to Rose

Repeat Chorus

Give my feet to the footloose
Careless, fancy free
Give my knees to the needy
Don't pull that stuff on me
Hand me down my walking cane
It's a sin to tell a lie
Send my mouth way down south
And kiss my ass goodbye

Repeat Chorus

Quiet Man

Strolling down the highway with my shoes in my hand
Don't talk much, I'm a quiet man
Beauty and silence both run deep
And I'm running like crazy
While you are asleep.

(chorus)
You got news for me
I got nothing for you
Don't pin your blues on me
Just go ahead and do
Whatever you wish to.

Last Monday nite
I saw a fight
Between Wednesday and Thursday
Over Saturday nite
Tuesday asked me what was going on
I said, "Sunday's in the meadow
And Friday's in the corn."

(chorus)

Hocus pocus maladusted
Don't you think my tears get rusted
Steady losing means you ain't using
What you really think is right.

(chorus)

Oodles of light
What a beautiful site
Both of God's eyes
Are shining tonite
Rays and beams of incredible dreams
And I am a quiet man.

Please Don't Bury Me

Woke up this morning
Put on my slippers
Walked in the kitchen and died
And oh what a feeling!
When my soul
Went thru 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
Just before you passed away
These were the very last words
That you said:

Chorus:
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

Give my stomach to Milwaukee
If they run out of beer
Put my socks in a cedar box
Just get "em" out of here
Venus de Milo can have my arms
Look out! I've got your nose
Sell my heart to the junkman
And give my love to Rose

Repeat Chorus

Give my feet to the footloose
Careless, fancy free
Give my knees to the needy
Don't pull that stuff on me
Hand me down my walking cane
It's a sin to tell a lie
Send my mouth way down south
And kiss my ass goodbye

Repeat Chorus

Angel from Montgomery

To the person who just IMed me:

Make me an angel
That flies from Montgomery
Make me a poster of an old rodeo
Just give me one thing that I can hold onto

To believe in this living, is just a hard way to go.

John Prine take me home

I can feel the craziness already. I can feel it in my bones.

The 2008 Democratic presidential candidates are all setting up in the gates, and for all intents and purposes the bell has sounded and the most ludicrous joke of a horse race in our country has commenced. And they’re off.

And in my case, music most definitely soothes the savage beast. In this case, I reached for John Prine and his namesake album, CD, whatever from 1971. Prine is a poet and a troubadour who writes songs so simple they’re complex, then sings them in a twang that’s reminiscent of my homeland. He sings about the people that all of these politicians are going to woo, but I’ll guarantee don’t know the first thing about. He sings about the kind of people I grew up with, in a voice that sounds like home to me, and that’s why I know these politicians don’t understand the heartland because when I listen to them they sound insulting and a little stupid, to tell the truth.

Last time I checked my bankroll, it was getting thin//Sometimes it seems like the bottom/Is the only place I been. That’s taken from Illegal Smile, Prine’s tribute to the lower classes who need to escape from time to time.

And what man can’t identify with: Well I sat there at that table/And I acted real naïve/For I knew that topless lady/Had something up her sleeve. The singer eventually blows up his TV and moves to the country with his exotic girlfriend.

In Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore Prine sings: And Jesus don’t like killing no matter what the reason for. That’s perty plain, now ain’t it?

Prine’s beautiful, haunting Angel From Montgomery, could have been my house and my father when he sings: How the hell can a person/Go to work in the morning/And come home in the evening/With nothing to say?

When things start to get crazy the best thing to do is go back to your roots.