John Prine Live
  1. Come Back to Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard

    The last time that I saw her
    She was standing in the rain
    With her overcoat under her arm
    Leaning on a horsehead cane
    She said "Carl, take all the money"
    She called everybody Carl
    "My spirit's broke"
    "My mind's a joke,"
    "And getting up's real hard"
    Chorus:
    Don't you know her
    When you see her?
    She grew up
    In your back yard
    Come back to us
    Barbara Lewis
    Hare Krishna
    Beauregard
    Selling bibles at the airports
    Buying Quaaludes on the phone
    Hey, you talk about
    A paper route
    She's a shut in without a home
    God save her, please
    She's nailed her knees
    To some drugstore parking lot
    Hey, Mr. Brown
    Turn the volume down
    I believe this evening's shot
    (Repeat Chorus)
    Can't you picture her next Thursday?
    Can you picture her at all?
    In the Hotel Boulderado
    At the dark end of the hall
    I gotta shake myself and wonder
    Why she even bothers me
    For if heartaches were commercials
    We'd all be on T.V.
    (Repeat Chorus)
  2. Six O'Clock News

    Wanda had a baby in nineteen fifty one.
    The father was stranger and a stranger was the son.
    Call that child James Lewis, call these rooms a home.
    Changing all them diapers polish all that chrome.
    C'mon, baby, spend the night with me
    All around the schoolyard playing all the games
    Running, laughing back and forth the kid with two first names
    Stranger in the closet, lock the diary
    The past is running faster singing harmony
    C'mon, baby, spend the night with me
    "God bless this kitchen" said the knick-knack shelf
    "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
    C'mon, baby, spend the night with me
    C'mon, baby, spend the night with me
  3. The Oldest Baby in the World

    She's got the mind of a child
    And a body peaking over the hill
    Well, she would if she could
    And she should but nobody will
    With her nails painted red
    And her hair so unnaturally curled
    Well I think that she may be
    The oldest baby in the world
    She's tasted the night life
    But it's left her with nothing but hunger
    And all the available men
    Seem to think that they want something younger
    But youth is a costume
    And the beauty within lies unfurled
    And I think that she may be
    The oldest baby in the world
    Fast horses win races
    And royal flushes beat aces
    And everyone's playing to keep
    So let's turn out the lights
    And rock that old baby to sleep
    She loves the sound of the rain
    But you know she's still afraid of the thunder
    She keeps a head full of hope
    And a heart that's so full of wonder
    She may look like a woman
    But she's still some daddy's little girl
    And I think that she may be
    The oldest baby in the world
    Yes, I think that she may be
    The oldest baby in the world
  4. Angel from Montgomery

    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
    Chorus:
    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.
    (Repeat Chorus)
    There's flies in the kitchen I can hear 'em there buzzing
    And I ain't done nothing since I woke up today.
    How the hell can a person go to work in the morning
    And come home in the evening and have nothing to say.
    (Repeat Chorus)
  5. Grandpa Was a Carpenter

    Grandpa wore his suit to dinner
    Nearly every day
    No particular reason
    He just dressed that way
    Brown necktie and a matching vest
    And both his wingtip shoes
    He built a closet on our back porch
    And put a penny in a burned out fuse.

    Chorus:
    Grandpa was a carpenter
    He built houses stores and banks
    Chain smoked Camel cigarettes
    And hammered nails in planks
    He was level on the level
    And shaved even every door
    And voted for Eisenhower
    'Cause Lincoln won the war.
    Well, he used to sing me
    "Blood on the Saddle"
    And rock me on his knee
    And let me listen to radio
    Before we got TV
    Well, he'd drive to church on Sunday
    And take me with him too!
    Stained glass in every window
    Hearing aids in every pew.
    (Repeat Chorus)
    Now my grandma was a teacher
    Went to school in Bowling Green
    Traded in a milking cow
    For a Singer sewing machine
    She called her husband "Mister"
    And walked real tall and pride
    And used to buy me comic books
    After grandpa died.
    (Repeat Chorus)
  6. Blue Umbrella

    Feelings are strange
    especially when they come true
    and I had a feeling
    you'd be leaving soon
    so I tried to rearrange
    all my emotions
    but it seems the same
    no matter what I do.

    Chorus:
    Blue umbrella
    rest upon my shoulder
    hide the pain
    while the rain
    makes up my mind
    well, my feet are wet
    from thinking this thing over
    and it's been so long
    since I felt the warm sunshine
    just give me one good reason
    and I promise I won't ask you any more
    just give me one extra season
    so I can figure out the other four.

    Day time
    makes me wonder why you left me
    night time
    makes me wonder what I said
    next time
    are the words I'd like to plan on
    but, last time
    was the only thing you said.
    (Repeat Chorus)
  7. Fish and Whistle

    I been thinking lately about the people I meet
    The carwash on the corner and the hole in the street
    The way my ankles hurt with shoes on my feet
    And I'm wondering if I'm gonna see tomorrow.

    Father forgive us for what we must do
    You forgive us we'll forgive you
    We'll forgive each other till we both turn blue
    Then we'll whistle and go fishing in heaven.
    I was in the army but I never dug a trench
    I used to bust my knuckles on a monkey wrench
    Then I'd go to town and drink and give the girls a pinch
    But I don't think they ever even noticed me.
    Fish and whistle, whistle and fish
    Eat everything that they put on your dish
    And when we get through we'll make a big wish
    That we never have to do this again again? again?
    On my very first job I said thank you and please
    They made me scrub a parking lot down on my knees
    Then I got fired for being scared of bees
    And they only give me fifty cents an hour.
  8. Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone

    The movie wasn't really doing so hot
    said the new producer to the old big shot
    its dying on the edge of the great Midwest
    Sabu must tour or forever rest.
    Hey look ma
    here comes the elephant boy
    bundled all up in his corduroy
    headed down south towards Illinois
    from the jungles of East St. Paul.
    His manager sat in the office alone
    staring at the numbers on the telephone
    wondering how a man could send a child actor
    to visit in the land of the wind chill factor.
    Sabu was sad the whole tour stunk
    the airlines lost the elephant's trunk
    the roadie got the rabies and the scabies and the flu
    they was low on morale but they was high on...
  9. Living in the Future

    Jehosaphat the mongrel cat
    Jumped off the roof today
    Some would say he fell but I could tell
    He did himself away
    His eyes weren't bright like they were the night
    We played checkers on the train
    God Bless his soul he was a tootsie roll
    But he's a dead cat just the same
    Chorus:
    We are living in the future
    I'll tell you how I know
    I read it in the paper
    Fifteen years ago
    We're all driving rocket ships
    And talking with our minds
    And wearing turquoise jewelry
    And standing in soup lines
    We are standing in soup lines
    Jake the barber's lonely daughter
    Went down to her daddy's shop
    She plugged herself to a barber pole
    And took a little off the top
    Pressure on the left. Pressure on the right
    Pressure in the middle of the hole
    I'm goin' to Maine on a forty foot crane
    I'm gonna use it for a fishin' pole
    (Repeat Chorus)
    Old Sarah Brown sells tickets down
    At the all night picture show
    Where they grind out sex
    And they rate it with an "X"
    Just to make a young man's pants grow
    No tops no bottoms just hands and feet
    Screaming the posters out on the street
    Strangling the curious and the weak
    We give 'em what they want to see - O
    (Repeat Chorus)
  10. Mexican Home

    It got so hot, last night, I swear
    You couldn't hardly breathe
    Heat lightning burnt the sky like alcohol
    I sat on the porch without my shoes
    And I watched the cars roll by
    As the headlights raced
    To the corner of the kitchen wall.
    Chorus:
    Mama dear
    Your boy is here
    Far across the sea
    Waiting for
    That sacred core
    That burns inside of me
    And I feel a storm
    All wet and warm
    Not ten miles away
    Approaching
    My Mexican home.
    My God! I cried, it's so hot inside
    You could die in the living room
    Take the fan from the window
    Prop the door back with a broom
    The cuckoo clock has died of shock
    And the windows feel no pane
    The air's as still
    As the throttle on a funeral train.
    (Repeat Chorus)
    My father died on the porch outside
    On an August afternoon
    I sipped bourbon and cried
    With a friend by the light of the moon
    So its hurry! hurry! Step right up
    It's a matter of life or death
    The sun is going down
    And the moon is just holding its breath.
    (Repeat Chorus)
  11. Speed of the Sound of Loneliness

    You come home late and you come home early
    You come on big when you're feeling small
    You come home straight and you come home curly
    Sometimes you don't come home at all
    Chorus:
    So what in the world's come over you
    And what in heaven's name have you done
    You've broken the speed of the sound of loneliness
    You're out there running just to be on the run
    Well I got a heart that burns with a fever
    And I got a worried and a jealous mind
    How can a love that'll last forever
    Get left so far behind
    (Repeat Chorus)
    It's a mighty mean and a dreadful sorrow
    It's crossed the evil line today
    Well, how can you ask about tomorrow
    We ain't got one word to say
    (Repeat Chorus:)
    Ending:
    You're out there running just to be on the run
    You're out there running just to be on the run
    You're out there running just to be on the run
  12. The Accident (Things Could Be Worse)

    Last night I saw an accident
    on the corner of Third and Green
    two cars collided and I got excited
    just being part of that scene

    It was Mrs. Tom Walker and her beautiful daughter
    Pamela, was driving the car
    they got hit by a man in a light blue sedan
    who had obviously been to a bar.
    Chorus:
    They don't know how lucky they are
    they could have run into that tree
    got struck by a bolt of lightning
    and raped by a minority.
    It was a four way dilemma 
    we all arrived the same time
    I yielded to the man to the right of me 
    and he yielded it right back to mine
    well, the yield went around and around and around 
    till Pamela finally tried
    just then the man in the light blue sedan
    hit Pamela's passenger side.
    (Repeat Chorus)
    Pamela hit her head on the mirror
    Mrs. Walker got a bump on the knee
    the man hit himself in the face and said

    “Why does this happen to me?”
    the neighbors came out
    and they gathered about
    saying “Hey! who hit who anyway?”
    and the police arrived at a quarter to five
    and pronounced all the victims “Okay.”
    (Repeat Chorus)
  13. Sam Stone

    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)
    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.
    (Repeat Chorus)
  14. Souvenirs

    All the snow has turned to water
    Christmas days have come and gone
    Broken toys and faded colors
    Are all that's left to linger on
    I hate graveyards and old pawn shops
    For they always bring me tears
    I can't forgive the way they rob me
    Of my childhood souvenirs
    Chorus:
    Memories they can't be boughten
    They can't be won at carnivals for free
    Well it took me years
    To get those souvenirs
    And I don't know how they slipped away from me
    Broken hearts and dirty windows
    Make life difficult to see
    That's why last night and this mornin'
    Always look the same to me
    I hate reading old love letters
    For they always bring me tears
    I can't forgive the way they rob me
    Of my sweetheart's souvenirs
    (Repeat Chorus)
  15. Aw Heck

    I could be as happy as a sardine in a can
    Long as I got my woman
    I could run stark naked and live in and old oak tree
    Just as long as she's with me
    My woman.
    The cannibals can catch me and fry me in a pan
    Long as I got my woman
    I could get the electric chair for a phony rap
    Long as she's sittin' in my lap
    My woman.
    I'd run a mile, just to see her smile
    And put her lovin arms, around my neck
    Aw heck
    My spine starts a tingling, and bells start a ringling
    When she's with me, can't you see.
    They could torture me and stretch me like a rubber band
    Long as I got my woman
    I could jump off a cliff and never have no fear
    Just as long as she is near
    My woman.
  16. Donald and Lydia

    Small town, bright lights, Saturday night,
    Pinballs and pool halls flashing their lights.
    Making change behind the counter in a penny arcade
    Sat the fat girl daughter of Virginia and Ray
    Lydia
    Lydia hid her thoughts like a cat
    Behind her small eyes sunk deep in her fat.
    She read romance magazines up in her room
    And felt just like Sunday on Saturday afternoon.
    Chorus:
    But dreaming just comes natural
    Like the first breath from a baby,
    Like sunshine feeding daisies,
    Like the love hidden deep in your heart.
    Bunk beds, shaved heads, Saturday night,
    A warehouse of strangers with sixty watt lights.
    Staring through the ceiling, just wanting to be
    Lay one of too many, a young PFC:
    Donald
    There were spaces between Donald and whatever he said.
    Strangers had forced him to live in his head.
    He envisioned the details of romantic scenes
    After midnight in the stillness of the barracks latrine.
    (Repeat Chorus)
    Hot love, cold love, no love at all.
    A portrait of guilt is hung on the wall.
    Nothing is wrong, nothing is right.
    Donald and Lydia made love that night.
    Love
    The made love in the mountains, they made love in the streams,
    They made love in the valleys, they made love in their dreams.
    But when they were finished there was nothing to say,
    'Cause mostly they made love from ten miles away.
    (Repeat Chorus)
  17. That's the Way That the World Goes Round

    I know a guy that's got a lot to lose.
    He's a pretty nice fellow but he's kind of confused.
    He's got muscles in his head that ain't never been used.
    Thinks he own half of this town.
    Starts drinking heavy, gets a big red nose.
    Beats his old lady with a rubber hose,
    then he takes her out to dinner and buys her new clothes.
    That's the way that the world goes 'round.
    That's the way that the world goes 'round.
    You're up one day and the next you're down.
    It's half an inch of water and you think you're gonna drown.
    That's the way that the world goes 'round.
    I was sitting in the bathtub counting my toes,
    when the radiator broke, water all froze.
    I got stuck in the ice without my clothes,
    naked as the eyes of a clown.
    I was crying ice cubes hoping I'd croak,
    when the sun come through the window, the ice all broke.
    I stood up and laughed thought it was a joke
    That's the way that the world goes 'round.
  18. Hello in There

    We had an apartment in the city,
    Me and Loretta liked living there.
    Well, it'd been years since the kids had grown,
    A life of their own left us alone.
    John and Linda live in Omaha,
    And Joe is somewhere on the road.
    We lost Davy in the Korean war,
    And I still don't know what for, don't matter anymore.

    Chorus:
    Ya' know that old trees just grow stronger,
    And old rivers grow wilder ev'ry day.
    Old people just grow lonesome
    Waiting for someone to say, "Hello in there, hello."
    Me and Loretta, we don't talk much more,
    She sits and stares through the back door screen.
    And all the news just repeats itself
    Like some forgotten dream that we've both seen.
    Someday I'll go and call up Rudy,
    We worked together at the factory.
    But what could I say if asks "What's new?"
    "Nothing, what's with you? Nothing much to do."
    (Repeat Chorus)
    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."