John Denver recorded this song too. I am reminded of it everytime I go out near my peach trees, on the land we cleared to build our home, which we built with our own hands. But we do have a TV and get a paper - which we shred for mulch on our big garden. It's like the song told us what to do, it just took a while to make it happen. I'd never heard of John Prine, or maybe I forgot him in the swirl of the '70's, trying not to be a hippie, but finding in the '00's that that is what I wanted all along.

Nancy the nancedar

John Prine is such a classic. One of my favorites is Paraidse. Remember that one?

And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Adrie 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.

When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'
Just five miles away from wherever I am.

Yes, GypseaFlower,
I do like that one, too. Has a great tune, too. Kind of a rocking, swaying sound, like your sitting on a front porch swing reminiscing about the old days, or maybe sitting in an old creeky wooden rocker, rocking and remembering. . .
With its 3/4-time rythmn, it is a great tune for two-stepping or waltzing, or just to sit and listen as you rock and rock and rock. . .

I love all his songs and there are so many. Some are funny, like "Dear Abby", and some break your heart, like "Sam Stone" or "Donald and Lydia", but they all conjour up vivid images and make you think, and that is what good literature, art, & music is supposed to do, now isn't it?

I think he is the greatest among the greatest of the song writers like Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and all the rest. He tells it like it is and you are there.

"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.

"And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away."

I remember a song that I've always felt was my "life story" written by Michael Martin Murphy I believe and also recorded by John Denver* called "Boy from the country"

Because he called the forest brother,
because he called the earth his mother,
they drove him out into the rain
folks said the boy from the country was insane.

Because he spoke to fish in the creek,
because he claimed that the animals could speak...
who knows, perhaps they do -
how do you know they don't just because they've never spoken to you.

Boy from the country, left his home when he was young.
Boy from the country, he loves the sun

I'm writing these from memory so they may not be accurate. I remember the last verse ends with "doesn't wanna see the forest for the trees..." or something similar.

*funny connecting fact: while a teenager in Oklahoma, my sister was John Denver's kid's babysitter whenever he was back home visiting the family (he's from Oklahoma also). Though his people are from Corn OK, when he was on tour the whole gang would rent an entire hotel in downtown OKC and my sister and her friend would keep the kids occupied in the afternoons.

Interesting tale, John. Very cool.
I adore John Denver.
Have always loved his big heart, that bigger than life smile, his music & their messages.
Admire him too for all that he did for environment & wildlife conservation.
I cried for days when he was killed, and still do sometimes.
Such a waste.

Loved MMM's music muchly, too. Never get tired of their songs. John Denver songs are romantic and mostly were optimistic and full of love for the life he had lived and the life he looked forward to living and experiencing...of rejoicing in the wonders in life and the world.
Micheal Martin Murphy's songs are also beautifully romantic, but somehow melancholy. They were beautiful & yet I felt a sadness in them - in him. I felt he was filled with regrets.
So sad.

Yes those songs do make you think and some are very funny like Your Flag Decal Won't Get you into Heaven Anymore.
I think someone should rerelase that one with all the war controversy going on.
Donald and Lydia ... I'd forgotten that one and I used to like it so much.
"But dreaming just comes natural
Like the first breath from a baby,
Like sunshine feeding daisies,
Like the love hidden deep in your heart."
TJ, Boy from the Country is such a good song. I tried to play guitar when I was a teenager and I had a John Denver songbook with that one in it. I wish I still had it. Might get out the old guitar and see what I still remember. *grin*

Yes, my sister and I sing the flag decal song. It ought to be played on the radio, and the saga about "Sam Stone", too. Sam Stone is really relevant now with all the young men and women serving around the world who are coming home with shattered bodies and shatter minds. Jeez!

SAM STONE - written and performed by John Prine

Sam Stone came home,
To his 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 knee.
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.

Chorus:
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 to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
Mmm....

Sam Stone's welcome home
Didn't last too long.
He went to work when he'd spent his last dime
And Sammy took to stealing
When he got that empty feeling
For a hundred dollar habit without overtime.
And the gold rolled through his veins
Like a thousand railroad trains,
And eased his mind in the hours that he chose,
While the kids ran around wearin' other peoples' clothes...

Repeat Chorus:
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 to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
Mmm....

Sam Stone was alone
When he popped his last balloon
Climbing walls while sitting in a chair
Well, he played his last request
While the room smelled just like death
With an overdose hovering in the air
But life had lost its fun
And there was nothing to be done
But trade his house that he bought on the G.I. Bill
For a flag draped casket on a local heroes' hill

Chorus
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 to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
Mmm....
------------------------------
Annie

It is quite a coincidence, but John Prine was on PBS 'Austin City Limits' last night. It's on every Thursday night. Some great singers and musicians on there every week. Etta James was on there recently. She was great as always.

But last night, it was Mr. John Prine, followed by Amos Lee, who is a fantastic new singer performer.
John has a new CD, which I am going to be getting real soon!

It was a great show. Hope you watched it.

Here are the highlights:

"John Prine followed by Amos Lee
November 12
ItÂs been almost ten years since the iconic John Prine released a CD of new original songs, but after a battle with cancer he's back in top form. Highlights include songs from his newest CD, Fair&Square, plus a few Prine classics. Amos Lee melds folk and soul into a unique engaging song-poetry that is rooted in American tradition. Lee performs songs from his self-titled debut release."

http://www.pbs.org/klru/austin/
http://www.pbs.org/klru/austin/tvschedule/index.html

Great Music to GARDEN by!!! Something for everyone and every mood.
~ Annie

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:548402}}

SweetAnnie4u - John Denver wasn't "killed", he died flying his experimental plane, so he "died" when it crashed, not that someone murdered him (killed). Don't mean to be picky, but I have always believed that he outlived his genius and had no where to go but to end his life in a burst of glory. Years after his music was popular I listened to it again and heard an entirely different message. What a poet he was to leave his audience with multiple messages of hope and dreams for times when they fit or did not and then fit other ways later. I've always wondered what he would have written in these troubled times - probably uplifting songs of hope and finding simple joy. I always sing "Rocky Mountain High" when I feel old - I lived in the Rockies when I was 27, just like the song. It brings sweet memories of youth and joy, and I smile for a long, long time afterwards.

I worry that the young people today have no concept of joy - just the next thing to be bought, not earned or appreciated, just lusted for. After gaining it they find something else to search for and the search for joy in them is wasted and unfulfilled. Give me a weed to pull, a wildflower to be surprised by, and a seed that grew into a tree taller than me to make me smile and know that everything is right with the world. We need to teach our youth to be satisfied with very simple joy - the touch of a cat's fur, the smell of leaves burning in the fall, the view from a mile up a trail, the rows of mason jars filled with veggies they grew from tiny seeds, the flash of a tiny fish's tail in a small pond, the magestic girth of an old tree. Such simple things can change the view of the cruel world. We just are so immersed in consumerism that we forget to step back and listen to the words of a folk singer's song.

I was in love with John Denver many moons ago...then he hoarded gasoline during the energy crisis of the 70's when the rest of us were waiting hours in line, and he also divorced his sweet Annie, the wife he immortalized in song, and mother of the son he likewise exploited.

I get very disappointed in famous people that lure me in. Rod Stewart is another one who has been long off my list because of his womanizing. Alanis Morrisette is rude to fans and anyone who does that is likewise scratched off forever.

I love John Prine. Another great one is David Allen Coe. If you listen to country someone can't remember how redid his song "You don't have to call me Darling Darlin"
I think though if I had to pick a personal favorite though it would be JIM CROCHIE probably spelled that one wrong I love the songs he wrote just beautiful and so full of life.

I barrowed my brother's Honda CRV for a quick roadtrip and there was a Jim Croche CD in it that I listened to at least twice. I had forgotten so many of the words to his songs. He died tragically also and I know he would have given us so many more beautiful songs.