[1993:] There's no one person who was the basis for Sam Stone, more like three or four people, like a couple of my buddies who came back from Vietnam and some of the guys I served with in the Army. At the time, all the other Vietnam songs were basic protest songs, made up to slap each other on the back like "yeah, this is the right cause". I don't remember any other songs that talked about the soldiers at all. I came up with the chorus first and decided I really liked the part about the "hole in Daddy's arm". I had this picture in my mind of this little girl, like little Orphan Annie, shaking her head back and forth while a rainbow of money goes into her dad's arm. I think I invented the character of Sam Stone as a story line just to get around to that chorus. (Notes John Prine, 'Anthology - Great Days')