RIP John Prine

[Vandal]

John Prine, Who Chronicled the Human Condition in Song, Dies at 73

The folk singer and songwriter with a raspy voice and an offbeat humor was revered by peers including Bob Dylan.

John Prine, the raspy-voiced country-folk singer whose ingenious lyrics to songs by turns poignant, angry and comic made him a favorite of Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and others, died Tuesday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. He was 73.

The cause was complications from Covid-19, his family said.

Mr. Prine underwent cancer surgery in 1998 to remove a tumor in his neck identified as squamous cell cancer, which had damaged his vocal cords. In 2013, he had part of one lung removed to treat lung cancer.

Mr. Prine was a relative unknown in 1970 when Mr. Kristofferson heard him play one night at a small Chicago club called the Fifth Peg, dragged there by the singer-songwriter Steve Goodman. Mr. Kristofferson was performing in Chicago at the time at the Quiet Knight. At the Fifth Peg, Mr. Prine treated him to a brief after-hours performance of material that, Mr. Kristofferson later wrote, “was unlike anything I’d heard before.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/arts ... e=Homepage

[Bob Juch]

John Prine, Who Chronicled the Human Condition in Song, Dies at 73

The folk singer and songwriter with a raspy voice and an offbeat humor was revered by peers including Bob Dylan.

John Prine, the raspy-voiced country-folk singer whose ingenious lyrics to songs by turns poignant, angry and comic made him a favorite of Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and others, died Tuesday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. He was 73.

The cause was complications from Covid-19, his family said.

Mr. Prine underwent cancer surgery in 1998 to remove a tumor in his neck identified as squamous cell cancer, which had damaged his vocal cords. In 2013, he had part of one lung removed to treat lung cancer.

Mr. Prine was a relative unknown in 1970 when Mr. Kristofferson heard him play one night at a small Chicago club called the Fifth Peg, dragged there by the singer-songwriter Steve Goodman. Mr. Kristofferson was performing in Chicago at the time at the Quiet Knight. At the Fifth Peg, Mr. Prine treated him to a brief after-hours performance of material that, Mr. Kristofferson later wrote, “was unlike anything I’d heard before.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/arts ... e=Homepage

I have half a dozen of his albums on CD.

[ToLiveIsToFly]

Shuffling through his catalog in my home office. Daughter asked me why I was sad and I explained and she made "I'm going to pretend to be sympathetic because I don't really get it" face. Then Paradise came on and "wait, the guy you're talking about is the guy who wrote THAT?" and then she started bawling

[mikehardware]

I was blessed to see him in concert at college in the early 80s. Wonderful.

My brother had come back from college about 1975 with some John Prine eight-tracks. I liked the goofy humor of "Dear Abby" and "Please Don't Bury Me". The stories in his more serious lyrics blew me away.

So many great songs over the years. If anyone isn't familiar with John Prine's music, it's very much worth checking out.

[Bob Juch]

I was blessed to see him in concert at college in the early 80s. Wonderful.

My brother had come back from college about 1975 with some John Prine eight-tracks. I liked the goofy humor of "Dear Abby" and "Please Don't Bury Me". The stories in his more serious lyrics blew me away.

So many great songs over the years. If anyone isn't familiar with John Prine's music, it's very much worth checking out.

I refrained from quoting "Please Don't Bury Me" in my post.

[frogman042]

The last time I saw John Prine live in concert was in the early 1980's in NYC - He was doing 2 shows with Steve Goodman as his opening act - and I got tickets to both shows - it went from about 8 pm to 2-3 am - with the very last number was John and Steve together. It was a great show but what was really memorable was that although Steve basically did the same set both times (not surprising giving his health at that point), but John did 2 totally different shows - I'm not certain but I don't think he did the same song twice - the first show of John's was basically acoustic/folk and the 2nd electric and rocking out. It was a great night with 2 of my all time favorite singer/songwriters (we ended up missing the last train out of Penn Station to Long Island where my sister lives, so we had to chill there for about 3 hours for the first train out the next morning).

One final note - I was introduced to both John and Steve's music through John Denver - before he hit it big with Country Roads, he was playing the college folk/coffee house scene in small colleges - my sister was a huge fan and had some of his early albums and we got to see him in these small venues. Before Arlo covered it John Denver was covering Steve's City of New Orleans and John Prine's Spanish Pipedream. Shortly after hitting it big with Country Roads, John got booked at Carnage Hall - my Aunt was able to secure us tickets - and after they had sold out they added about 60 seats on the stage in which we got some of those. So one of my hooks (that I didn't use) was I appeared on stage at Carnage Hall with John Denver.

All three are gone but have made the world a much greater place - I feel fortunate to have gotten to see them all in various venues. RIP.

[Bob Juch]

The last time I saw John Prine live in concert was in the early 1980's in NYC - He was doing 2 shows with Steve Goodman as his opening act - and I got tickets to both shows - it went from about 8 pm to 2-3 am - with the very last number was John and Steve together. It was a great show but what was really memorable was that although Steve basically did the same set both times (not surprising giving his health at that point), but John did 2 totally different shows - I'm not certain but I don't think he did the same song twice - the first show of John's was basically acoustic/folk and the 2nd electric and rocking out. It was a great night with 2 of my all time favorite singer/songwriters (we ended up missing the last train out of Penn Station to Long Island where my sister lives, so we had to chill there for about 3 hours for the first train out the next morning).

One final note - I was introduced to both John and Steve's music through John Denver - before he hit it big with Country Roads, he was playing the college folk/coffee house scene in small colleges - my sister was a huge fan and had some of his early albums and we got to see him in these small venues. Before Arlo covered it John Denver was covering Steve's City of New Orleans and John Prine's Spanish Pipedream. Shortly after hitting it big with Country Roads, John got booked at Carnage Hall - my Aunt was able to secure us tickets - and after they had sold out they added about 60 seats on the stage in which we got some of those. So one of my hooks (that I didn't use) was I appeared on stage at Carnage Hall with John Denver.

All three are gone but have made the world a much greater place - I feel fortunate to have gotten to see them all in various venues. RIP.

Wow, I can't imagine John Denver doing Spanish Pipedream; that's far from anything else he did. It's not available on any of the streaming services I subscribe to.

[frogman042]

...
Wow, I can't imagine John Denver doing Spanish Pipedream; that's far from anything else he did. It's not available on any of the streaming services I subscribe to.

It was on one of his early albums (maybe his 5th?) - Aerie from 1971

[Bob Juch]

...
Wow, I can't imagine John Denver doing Spanish Pipedream; that's far from anything else he did. It's not available on any of the streaming services I subscribe to.

It was on one of his early albums (maybe his 5th?) - Aerie from 1971

I found it. It's listed as "Blow Up Your TV (Spanish Pipe Dream)". John Prine did a more country version.