As everyone has known, JP is truly one of the premier wordsmiths. Coupled with his tunesmith abilities, its a tough combination to match. Every person who meets that criteria has something different in the way it comes out which singles them out. That's probably a thread discussion all by itself.

Prine uses the commonest words and phrases and somehow puts them together in a rhyme and meter that makes what might be an awkward phrase flow together and through the tune......very natural. I may not have explained that well...............Anyway, for me it makes it almost imposssible to think about any of his lyrics without the tune. I don't do that with everyone. Sometimes I do it because I'm that way musically. But in the case of JP, its absolutely impossible for me disassociate one from the other. Again, poorly explained but......................

All that said, he is very capable of writings that make us want to say, "Damn! I even knew that and still never said it!!!" One of his perhaps lesser known songs is "All the Best" which contains this beautiful phrase:

Then you change your mind   
For something else to do
And your heart gets bored with your mind
And it changes you

Geeziz......I've known that for years and never have been able to put it into so few words or phrased so beautifully.

Yeah......I like John Prine a lot.

Spaw