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Remembering John Prine - O Boy
- Thread starter Joe Riley
- Start date
That's How Every Empire Falls - John Prine, Written by R.B. Morris
Lyrics
He caught a train from Alexandria
Just a broken man in flight
Running scared with all his devils
Saying prayers all through the night
But mercy can't find him
Not in the shadows where he calls
Forsaking all his better angels
That's how every empire falls
The bells ring out on Sunday mornng
Like echoes from another time
All our innocence and yearning
And sense of wonder left behind
Oh, gentle hearts remember
What was that story? Is it lost?
For when religion loses vision
That's how every empire falls
He toasts his wife and all his family
The providence he brought to bear
They raise their glasses in his honor
Although, this union they don't share
A man who lives among them
Was still a stranger to them all
For when the heart is never open
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
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
Jun 09, 2022
"The late John Prine was the songwriter’s songwriter. Bob Dylan once suggested he wrote “the most beautiful songs”, while Bruce Springsteen said it was “music of towering compassion with an almost unheard of precision and creativity when it came to observing the fine details of ordinary lives”.
"Unfortunately, Prine’s own life came to an end at the age of 73, in April 2020, due to complications from Covid-19. His Irish wife, Fiona Whelan-Prine, is still coming to terms with her beloved husband’s passing, but is determined to keep his legacy alive, and is taking to the road with artists he endorsed on Oh Boy Records, the label Prine co-founded in 1981."
Read More Here
Fiona Whelan-Prine: Irish wife of John Prine on keeping his legacy alive
"The late John Prine was the songwriter’s songwriter. Bob Dylan once suggested he wrote “the most beautiful songs”, while Bruce Springsteen said it was “music of towering compassion with an almost unheard of precision and creativity when it came to observing the fine details of ordinary lives”.
"Unfortunately, Prine’s own life came to an end at the age of 73, in April 2020, due to complications from Covid-19. His Irish wife, Fiona Whelan-Prine, is still coming to terms with her beloved husband’s passing, but is determined to keep his legacy alive, and is taking to the road with artists he endorsed on Oh Boy Records, the label Prine co-founded in 1981."
Read More Here
Inside the Life of John Prine, the Mark Twain of American Songwriting
How he took the folk scene by storm, wowed his hero Bob Dylan and beat cancer – all while inspiring today's country stars (MORE)By Patrick Doyle
January 4, 2017
Behind The Song: : “My Old Man” by Steve Goodman
"When Steve Goodman finished writing this song for his dad, he called his pal John Prine and played it long distance; it is one of the greatest songs ever written by a son for his father."
John Prine & Steve Goodman together forever.
“And for the first time since he died, late last night I cried,
I wondered when I was gonna do that for my old man…”
"When it came to writing a song about your father, even John Prine knew that nobody ever did it better than his pal, the late Steve Goodman. Prine had already written a great song about his own father, “Paradise.” It was a song that moved his father more than any he ever wrote. But that was about more than his dad. It was about coal-mining in America, and the little town of Paradise where it happened. It was about America, and how swiftly it has changed."
"But this one. “My Old Man” by Steve Goodman. It’s a song long beloved as among the greatest ever written from a son to his dad. For so many reasons. But more than anything, because it’s genuine. From the heart. The son, the father, the love, the regret, the tune. All of it. When Stevie wrote a song, he wrote a song to be remembered. More than forty years since it first emerged, it still is pure and perfect."
It’s also a perfect example of the songwriting wisdom that the more specific a song is, the more universal. Although this is as specific as it gets, with the true details of the life of his dad, known as Bud Goodman, a used car salesman in Chicago, it’s a song about all dads, and all children of parents who have dealt with the grief of losing their own dads.
