Somewhat off-topic:

I'd like to to call Mudcat members & guests attention to this dailykos diary & comments:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/17/115745/384/715/497625

Let's Be Absolutely Clear About Last Night's Debate
by Melody Townsel
Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 09:38:30 AM PDT

**
In the strange {but imo, interesting} manner that Mudcat threads develop in unexpected, convoluted ways, several commentators to that dailykos diary started quoting lyrics to John Prine songs. Among the song lyrics scattered throughout that diary's comments is this one:


THE GREAT COMPROMISE
John Prine
As recorded by John Prine on “Diamonds in the Rough” (1972)

1. I knew a girl who was almost a lady.
She had a way with all the men in her life.
Every inch of her blossomed in beauty.
She was born on the fourth of July.
Well she lived in an aluminum house trailer,
And she worked in a jukebox saloon,
And she spent all the money that I give her
Just to see the old man in the moon.

CHORUS: I used to sleep at the foot of Old Glory
And awake in the dawn's early light,
But much to my surprise,
When I opened my eyes,
I was a victim of the great compromise.

2. Well, we'd go out on Saturday evenings
To the drive-in on Route 41,
And it was there that I first suspected
That she was doin' what she'd already done.
She said: "Johnny, won't you get me some popcorn?"
And she knew I had to walk pretty far,
And as soon as I passed through the moonlight,
She hopped into a foreign sports car. CHORUS

3. [spoken] Well, you know I could have beat up that fellow,
But it was her that had hopped into his car.
Many times I'd fought to protect her,
But this time she was goin' too far.
Now, some folks they call me a coward
'Cause I left her at the drive-in that night,
But I'd druther have names thrown at me
Than to fight for a thing that ain't right. CHORUS

4. Now she writes all the fellows love letters
Saying: "Greetings! Come and see me real soon."
And they go and line up in the barroom
And spend the night in that sick woman's room;
But sometimes I get awful lonesome
And I wish she was my girl instead,
But she won't let me live with her
And she makes me live in my head. CHORUS

-snip-

I confess that I had never heard of John Prine before, but I figured Mudcat posters had heard of him. Using the search engine, I founda lot of threads and song lyrics [pre-2005] and maybe there's been more since the search engine crashed and caused internal searches after that time to be iffy, if not impossible. Here's one thread that has links to the others:

thread.cfm?threadid=86310
When Did You First Hear John Prine??

-snip-

Needless to say, I believe that the dailykos diary is also interesting reading because of its comments about the ABC "debate" which is the subject of that thread. If you'd like, you could check out that diary & its comments for that reason too. :o)