John Prine

American singer-songwriter

John Edward Prine (10 October 19467 April 2020) was an American country folk singer-songwriter, known for an often humorous style of folk/country music with elements of protest and social commentary.

You got gold, gold inside of you. Well I got some Gold inside me too

Song lyrics

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All songs by John Prine unless otherwise noted.
  • 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...
    • "All the Best"
  • Kiss a little baby
    Give the world a smile
    If you take an inch
    Give 'em back a mile
    Cause if you lie like a rug
    And you don't give a damn
    You're never gonna be
    As happy as a clam
    So I'm sitting in a hotel
    Trying to write a song
    My head is just as empty
    As the day is long.
    • "It’s a Big Old Goofy World"
  • 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.
    • "Daddy’s Little Pumpkin" (Prine, Pat McLaughlin)
  • 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
    • "You Got Gold" (Prine, Keith Sykes)
 
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
  • Why just before last Christmas
    My baby went away
    And I find it real surprising
    For myself to hear me say
    That everything is cool
    Everything's okay
    • "Everything is Cool"
  • 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
    • "Jesus the Missing Years"
 
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"
 
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,
All lyrics written by John Prine unless otherwise noted.
  • 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"
    • Hello in there
  • 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.
 
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.
  • 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.
 
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
  • 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
    • "That's the Way That the World Goes Round"
Lyrics by John Prine unless otherwise noted.
  • 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
  • We were standing, Standing by peaceful waters
    Standing by peaceful waters
    Whoa, wah, oh wha, oh Whoa, wah, oh wha, oh
    • Peaceful Waters
  • 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
  • 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
    • Who forgot that it was Sunday
  • We are the lonely all together
    All together we're all alone
    We are the lonely all together
    All together we're all alone
  • 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
 
Make me a poster of an old rodeo. Just give me one thing that I can hold on to...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.
  • 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.
  • 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
    • "The Six O'clock news"

All lyrics written by John Prine unless otherwise noted.

  • 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
    • That's How Every Empire Falls (R.B. Morris)
 
A bitter wind blows through the country A hard rain falls on the sea If terror comes without a warning There must be something we don't see What fire begets this fire? Like torches thrown into the straw If no one asks, then no one answers That's how every empire falls.
  • 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.
    • That's How Every Empire Falls (R.B. Morris)
  • A bitter wind blows through the country
    A hard rain falls on the sea
    If terror comes without a warning
    There must be something we don't see
    What fire begets this fire?
    Like torches thrown into the straw
    If no one asks, then no one answers
    That's how every empire falls.
    • That's How Every Empire Falls (R.B. Morris)
  • We made love In every way love can be made
    And we made time Look like time Could never fade
    Friday Night We both made the guitars hum
    Saturday made Sunday feel Like it would never come
    Gonna be a long Monday
    Sittin' all alone on a mountain By a river that has no end
    • "Long Monday"(Prine, Keith Sykes)
  • 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.
 
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
    You open up their hearts
    And here's what you'll find
    A few frozen pizzas
    Some ice cubes with hair
    A broken Popsicle
    You don't want to go there...
  • 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
    • Some Humans Ain't Human
 
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
  • The dark and distant drumming
    The pounding of the hooves
    The silence of everything that moves
    Late at night you'll see them
    decked out in shiny jewels
    the coming of the caravan of fools
    • Caravan of Fools (co-written with Dan Auerbach and Pat McLaughlin)
  • 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
    • Caravan of Fools (co-written with Dan Auerbach and Pat McLaughlin)
  • I woke up this morning to a garbage truck
    Looks like this ol' horseshoe's done run out of luck
    If I came home, would you let me in?
    Fry me some pork chops and forgive my sin?
    • Boundless Love (co-written with Dan Auerbach and Pat McLaughlin)
 
Surround me with your boundless love. Confound me with your boundless love. I was drowning in the sea, Lost as I could be. When you found me with your boundless love
  • Surround me with your boundless love
    Confound me with your boundless love
    I was drowning in the sea,
    Lost as I could be
    When you found me
    With your boundless love
    • Boundless Love (co-written with Dan Auerbach and Pat McLaughlin)
  • Sometimes my old heart is like a washing machine
    It bounces around 'til my Soul comes clean
    And when I'm clean and hung out to dry
    I'm gonna make you laugh until you cry
    • Boundless Love (co-written with Dan Auerbach and Pat McLaughlin)
  • If by chance I should find myself at risk of falling from this jagged cliff
    I look below, and I look above
    I'm surrounded by your boundless love
    • Boundless Love (co-written with Dan Auerbach and Pat McLaughlin)
 
Summer's end's around the bend just flyin', The swimmin' suits are on the line just dryin', I'll meet you there for our conversation, I hope I didn't ruin your whole vacation
  • Summer's end's around the bend just flyin'
    The swimmin' suits are on the line just dryin'
    I'll meet you there for our conversation
    I hope I didn't ruin your whole vacation

    Well you never know how far from home you're feelin'
    Until you've watched the shadows cross the ceilin'
    Well I don't know, but I can see it snowin'
    In your car the windows are wide open

    • Summer's End (co-written with Pat McLaughlin)
  • 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?


I Remember Everything (2020)

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(John's last recording before he died) (Youtube recording)

  • 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
  • I remember everything
    Things I can't forget
    The way you turned and smiled on me
    On the night that we first met
    And I remember every night
    Your ocean eyes of blue
    How I miss you in the morning light
    Like roses miss the dew
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