In a time of chimpanzees, I was a penguin.
The religious right is motivated by the suspicion that someone, somewhere,
is having fun -- and that this must be stopped.
This song was written in 1971 but could have been written today. In honor of the fact that not a single convention speaker at the Republican National Convention mentioned our veterans and improving their health care and re-entry into society...
-- Badtux the Music Penguin
Ground rules: Comments that consist solely of insults, fact-free talking points, are off-topic, or simply spam the same argument over and over will be deleted. The penguin is the only one allowed to be an ass here. All viewpoints, however, are welcomed, even if I disagree vehemently with you.
WARNING: You are entitled to create your own arguments, but you are NOT entitled to create your own facts. If you spew scientific denialism, or insist that the sky is purple, or otherwise insist that your made-up universe of pink unicorns and cotton candy trees is "real", well -- expect the banhammer.
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yep, prine just nailed that one.
ReplyDeletei loves me some john prine. got to meet him a time or two and he's a hoot and a half.
you might think my life's a circus
laughin' and rollin' and grabbin' my thighs
how'd ya like to die in a hall of mirrors
with nobody around to close your eyes?
fucking. genius.
If they wasn't stupid enough to fight others wars for them they wouldn't need our support, would they?
ReplyDeleteI swear, penguins are as stupid as monkeys.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a few days to play the clip you posted, but I must say "Well chosen, Tux."
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a high-schooler, growing up outside Washington, D.C., I was lucky enough to be able to listen to a semi-underground (although in the commercial section of the spectrum) radio station from Bethesda, Maryland that played lots of hippie bands and anti-establishment folk music. The Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jerry Jeff Walker, Phil Ochs, and of course, John Prine. I probably listened to notes that you played, MB.
What an awakening it was to my mind! I suppose it was because my mind was ready for thinking outside the box, but it helped to have poetic lyrics that gave me words to hang onto.
Prine was one of the best at that, especially the first album with the cover picture of him sitting on the hay bale. Words from his songs run through my head almost every day, especially the one about old people -- "Old people just grow lonesome, waiting for someone, to say hello in there, hello..." When I deal with old people at the hospital, and especially when I used to work in nursing homes in the U.S., it gave me empathy for how those sad people at the end of their days are feeling.
The there's lines like (from that same song) "And all the news just repeats itself, like some forgotten dream, that we both seen..." One of the reasons I never got in fights over women is the line from "Sweet Revenge" (Prine's second album) about how nobody MADE the woman who left him go up to that other fella's room. so even though Prine's character could have beaten up the other guy, what was the point?
Well, I'm in a rambling reverie. I don't come across many people who have heard of Prine, especially not here (although they have a great consciousness of American music.) Judging from your faithful commenter, Tux, listening to him can still amount to pearls before swine, or snarls before Prine. But I appreciate that you appreciate him.