Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism. Midwestern mindtrips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs. I remember when Kris Kristofferson first brought him on the scene. All that stuff about Sam Stone the soldier junky daddy and Donald and Lydia, where people make love from ten miles away. Nobody but Prine could write like that. If I had to pick one song of his, it might be Lake Marie. I don’t remember what album that’s on.
-Bob Dylan (to Bill Flanagan in 2009)
John Prine (born October 10, 1946) is an American country folk singer-songwriter. He has been active as a composer, recording artist, and live performer since the early 1970s, and is known for an often humorous style of country music that has elements of protest and social commentary.
John Prine, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen (and his girlfriend)
According to Clinton Heylin, A Life in Stolen Moments, Bob Dylan joined John Prine onstage during Prine’s Sep 9, 1972 residency at the Bitter End, they did three songs together, Heylin names two, “Sam Stone”, and “Donald and Lydia”. John Prine has later said that the third song they did was “Far from me” and he continued to say, “It was like a dream.” It was actually Kris Kristofferson who set up a meeting at Carly Simon’s place around this date in 72.
“I was a big fan of Bob Dylan early on and his song “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.” I modeled “Donald and Lydia” after that song, as far as telling a story and having the chorus be the moral to the story.”
– John Prine (Americansongwriter)
“Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism. Midwestern mindtrips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs. I remember when Kris Kristofferson first brought him on the scene. All that stuff about “Sam Stone” the soldier junky daddy and “Donald and Lydia,” where people make love from ten miles away. Nobody but Prine could write like that. If I had to pick one song of his, it might be “Lake Marie.” I don’t remember what album that’s on.”
– Bob Dylan (Interview with Bill Flanagan 2009)
These two songwriters have a great mutual respect and have also covered each other’s songs.
Bob Dylan’s favorite John Prine song, Lake Marie:
CALLER:
What do you think of Bob Dylan? JOHN PRINE:
Well, I have to say Bob Dylan and Hank Williams Sr. were my biggest influences. CALLER:
Like him as a person? JOHN PRINE:
He’s always been nice to me.
– The Larry King Show (Aug 13, 1992, transcribed in “Isis”, No. 44, Aug-Sep 1992)
“Jesus was a good guy, he didn’t need this shit.”
― John Prine
“And you may see me tonight with an illegal smile. It don’t cost very much, but it lasts a long while. Won’t you please tell the man I didn’t kill anyone. No, I’m just tryin’ to have me some fun.”
― John Prine
John Prine (born October 10, 1946, in Maywood, Illinois) is an American country/folk singer-songwriter. He has been active as a recording artist and live performer since the early 1970s.
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and John Prine on the ‘Bobby Bare and Friends’ TV show back in 1985.
Bobby Bare: Considering you’ve seen everywhere in this vast wide country…where is favorite place? Ramblin’ Jack Elliott: …right there in the front seat of my motor home…movin’.
The whole show is fantastic, and the interviews mention snippets about Bob Dylan several times. John Prine tells about how he ended up buying his first Dylan record.
There is also a nice anecdote from Jack remembering a time when he and Bob Dylan were shown an ‘after hours’ bar in Greenwich Village and includes the tell-tale line: “And some stranger, perfect stranger, who probably didn’t know who Bob was, and so Bob was very comfortable with him…”.
Another highlight is the part where Bobby Bare plays Kris Kristofferson’s song about Elliott to him. Priceless!
“Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism. Midwestern mindtrips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs. I remember when Kris Kristofferson first brought him on the scene. All that stuff about “Sam Stone” the soldier junky daddy and “Donald and Lydia,” where people make love from ten miles away. Nobody but Prine could write like that. If I had to pick one song of his, it might be “Lake Marie.” I don’t remember what album that’s on.”
– Bob Dylan (Interview with Bill Flanagan 2009)
Lake Marie is from the album, Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings, the 12th studio album by John Prine, released in 1995. The song was inspired in part by Prine’s crumbling marriage and a series of grisly murders the singer remembered the Chicago news media having a field day with when he was a kid. It is one of my favourite songs, not just by John Prine, but by any artist.
John Prine: “It’s an actual place along the Illinois-Wisconsin border. There’s an entire chain of lakes along there, small lakes, and I remember as a teenager growing up in Chicago, a lot of the teenagers would go to these lakes and in the summer time kind of get away from the city. Lake Marie was kind of just one that stuck out in my mind. About ’59, ’60, ’61, I grew up in Maywood – it’s a western suburb of Chicago, and we started hearing about murders that weren’t related to the mob. You know, John Wayne Gacy was like, about two towns away from me and you just hear about it. The suburbs were kind of thought to be a pretty safe place at the time, and then some of these unexplained murders would show up every once in a while, where they’d find people in the woods somewhere. I just kind of took any one of them, not one in particular, and put it as if it was in a TV newscast. It was a sharp left turn to take in a song, but when I got done with it, I kind of felt like it’s what the song needed right then.”
