John Prine Quotes

I can see the fire burning
Burning right behind your eyes
I can see the fire burning, baby
Burning right behind your eyes
You must've swallowed a candle
Or some other kind of surprise.

The cashier at the pump & pay
Knows everything's gonna be okay
The all night all right rent-a-cop
Is across the street at the donut shop
The waitress waits with whiskey sour
At the single mingle happy hour
The one man band begins to sing Accompanied by a drum machine

Ya' know that old trees just grow stronger
And old rivers grow wilder every day
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, "Hello in there, hello"...
So if you're walking down the street sometime
And spot some hollow ancient eyes
Please don't just pass 'em by and stare
As if you didn't care, say, "Hello in there, hello"

Many years later I found myself talking to this girl
Who was standing there with her back turned to Lake Marie The wind was blowing especially through her hair
...Many years later we found ourselves in Canada
Trying to save our marriage and perhaps catch a few fish
Whatever seemed easier, that night she fell asleep in my arms
Humming the tune to, "Louie Louie"
Aah baby, we gotta go now

I wish you love - and happiness I guess I wish - you all the best
I wish you don't - do like I do
And never fall in love with someone like you
Cause if you fell - just like I did
You'd probably walk around the block like a little kid
But kids don't know - they can only guess...

Padlock the door and board the windows
Put the people in the street
"It's just my job," he says "I'm sorry." And draws a check, goes home to eat
But at night he tells his woman
"I know I hide behind the laws."
She says, "You're only taking orders."
That's how every empire falls.

When I get to heaven, I'm gonna shake God's hand Thank him for more blessings than one man can stand Then I'm gonna get a guitar and start a rock-n-roll band Check into a swell hotel, ain't the afterlife grand?

Love and devotion, deep as any ocean don't play by anybody's rules
With your carousel of horses and your unforeseen forces,
you're running with the caravan of fools
Caravan of fools, caravan of fools
You're running with the caravan of fools

You're feeling your freedom
And the world's off your back
Some cowboy from Texas
Starts his own war in Iraq]]
Some humans ain't human
Some people ain't kind

I've been down this road before
I remember every tree
Every single blade of grass
Holds a special place for me
And I remember every town
And every hotel room Every song I ever sang
On a guitar out of tune

Caught a train from Alexandria Just a broken man in flight
Running scared with his devils Saying prayers all through the night
Oh but mercy can't find him
Not in the shadows where he calls
Forsaking all his better angels That's how every empire falls

Sam Stone came home
To the wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas.
And the time that he served,
Had shattered all his nerves,
And left a little shrapnel in his knees. 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.
There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes,
Jesus Christ died for nothin I suppose,
Little pitchers have big ears,
Don't stop and count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols But empty pop bottles was all we would kill. Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.

It's a measure of treasure that gives me the pleasure
Of loving you the way I do
And you know I would gladly say I need your love badly
And bring these little things to you. Cause you got gold
Gold inside of you
You got gold
Gold inside of you
Well I got some Gold inside me too

There's a girl in the white house
I don't even know her name
Her disheveled appearance
Speaks volumes of shame
It's an embarrassing situation
But a situation just the same
The way she walks on others
And never takes the blame
Upsets my constitution
Beyond its mortal frame.