I Love John Prine
I just wrote a comment on the "I Love Arlo Guthrie" group site, pointing out that I can not believe I am the only member of that group.
Now, I have to do the same thing here. I can not possibly believe that I am the only person on SW that loves John Prine.
I got turned onto Prine my first semester of law school in the fall of 1976 by a fellow first-year classmate.
I immediately bought and enjoyed all of his albums out at that point. For a long time, I kept up as he released new songs.
John's music has been performed by many, many artists. The songs are fun and tuneful, but many also address human issues, such as "Hello in There".
Another social commentary song is "Paradise" or "Muhlenberg County". It has been published as both of these.
Paradise was a small town in Muhlenberg County on the Green River on western Kentucky. I say was because the town no longer exists, as the town was bought and the inhabitants moved away - as indicated in the lyrics.
The song blames the Peabody Coal Company, but this is, at best, half true. My parents lived in Paducah, Kentucky - about 250 miles west and south of Lexington where I moved for college.
The road that I took in this part of the state was the Western Kentucky Parkway, and it went about five miles north of Paradise.
As the song says, the coal company brought in the world's biggest shovel, and they strip-mined all of the land. Even then, however, Paradise could have survived.
But, due to the easy availability of the coal, and the fact that Paradise was on the Green River for easy transportation and cooling, the Shawnee Steam Plant was built just outside of town.
Burning all of that coal - especially in the days before scrubbers on cooling towers - made for a very dirty environment. It was said that women in Paradise would hang out clean laundry and bring in black clothing. So, the city was condemned for the steam plant under eminent domain, and the people were moved away.
Thus, though the Peabody Coal Company were terrible stewards of the land and the natural resources, they did not technically move Paradise away - the Shawnee Steam Plant did that.
When you drove by the location in the dark of night, and looked to the south, you would see a massive fire in the sky where they were burning off the gases from the towers. This fire never went out. It looked like my conception of hell, or of Mount Mordor. It was a dread - and dead - location indeed.
Now come on folks; sign up here. I'm feeling a bit lonely as the only member of the "I Love John Prine" group. Help me out!
My wife and I have tried to see John Prine a few times in the past several years. He doesn't tour much which makes it hard to find locations and to coordinate dates and times, and the tickets generally are not in our price range. So, we still have our albums.
Quakertrucker
Now, I have to do the same thing here. I can not possibly believe that I am the only person on SW that loves John Prine.
I got turned onto Prine my first semester of law school in the fall of 1976 by a fellow first-year classmate.
I immediately bought and enjoyed all of his albums out at that point. For a long time, I kept up as he released new songs.
John's music has been performed by many, many artists. The songs are fun and tuneful, but many also address human issues, such as "Hello in There".
Another social commentary song is "Paradise" or "Muhlenberg County". It has been published as both of these.
Paradise was a small town in Muhlenberg County on the Green River on western Kentucky. I say was because the town no longer exists, as the town was bought and the inhabitants moved away - as indicated in the lyrics.
The song blames the Peabody Coal Company, but this is, at best, half true. My parents lived in Paducah, Kentucky - about 250 miles west and south of Lexington where I moved for college.
The road that I took in this part of the state was the Western Kentucky Parkway, and it went about five miles north of Paradise.
As the song says, the coal company brought in the world's biggest shovel, and they strip-mined all of the land. Even then, however, Paradise could have survived.
But, due to the easy availability of the coal, and the fact that Paradise was on the Green River for easy transportation and cooling, the Shawnee Steam Plant was built just outside of town.
Burning all of that coal - especially in the days before scrubbers on cooling towers - made for a very dirty environment. It was said that women in Paradise would hang out clean laundry and bring in black clothing. So, the city was condemned for the steam plant under eminent domain, and the people were moved away.
Thus, though the Peabody Coal Company were terrible stewards of the land and the natural resources, they did not technically move Paradise away - the Shawnee Steam Plant did that.
When you drove by the location in the dark of night, and looked to the south, you would see a massive fire in the sky where they were burning off the gases from the towers. This fire never went out. It looked like my conception of hell, or of Mount Mordor. It was a dread - and dead - location indeed.
Now come on folks; sign up here. I'm feeling a bit lonely as the only member of the "I Love John Prine" group. Help me out!
My wife and I have tried to see John Prine a few times in the past several years. He doesn't tour much which makes it hard to find locations and to coordinate dates and times, and the tickets generally are not in our price range. So, we still have our albums.
Quakertrucker
70-79, M
