John Prine Quotes

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.

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

God bless this kitchen said the knick-knack chef The dinner's almost ready Go and wash yourself
Jimmy's growing up now and Wanda's growing old The time is growin' shorter the nights are long and cold
C'mon, baby, spend the night with me.
Sneaking in the closet and through the diary
Now, don't you know all he saw was all there was to see
The whole town saw Jimmy on the six o'clock news
His brains were on the sidewalk and blood was on his shoes

I am an old woman named after my mother
My old man is another child that's grown old
If dreams were lightning thunder was desire
This old house would have burnt down a long time ago
Make me an angel that flies from Montgom'ry
Make me a poster of an old rodeo
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go When I was a young girl well, I had me a cowboy
He weren't much to look at, just free rambling man
But that was a long time and no matter how I try
The years just flow by like a broken down dam.

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

We are the lonely all together
All together we're all alone
We are the lonely all together All together we're all alone

On a dusty pew in a vestibule
Sits the Devil playing pocket pool
He's waiting for the next poor fool
Who forgot that it was Sunday

And the old men sit round the cracker barrels The children hum their Christmas carols
The train tracks all run parallel
But they'll all meet up one day

We were standing, Standing by peaceful waters
Standing by peaceful waters
Whoa, wah, oh wha, oh Whoa, wah, oh wha, oh

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 know a man who's got a lot to lose
A pretty nice fella, kinda confused
Got muscles in his head that've never been used He thinks he owns half of this town He goes out drinkin' gets a big red nose
Beats his old lady with a rubber hose Then he takes her out to dinner Buys her new clothes
That's the way that the world goes 'round You're up one day, the next you're down It's a half-an-inch of water and you think you're gonna drown
That's the way that the world goes 'round

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.

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.

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"

Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into?
I'm a human corkscrew and all my wine is blood
They're gonna kill me Mama. They don't like me Bud.
So Jesus went to Heaven and he went there awful quick All them people killed him and he wasn't even sick
So come and gather around me my contemporary peers
And I'll tell you all the story of Jesus, the missing years