You Got Gold...

[MYmoo]

inside of you...


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John Prine (October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an
American country folk singer-songwriter. He was active as a
composer, recording artist, and live performer from the
early 1970s until his death, and was known for an often
humorous style of country music that has elements of protest
and social commentary.

http://www.google.com/url?q=https://en. ... g0N0jyekAY

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John Prine, a two time Grammy-winner, singer-songwriter, is
among the English language's premier phrase-turners with
music relevant to any age.

http://www.google.comq=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Prine&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwieg7aR5droAhUQCs0KHYrBCAMQFjAjegQICxAB&usg=AOvVaw36rlg_2Ucfkqg0N0jyekAY

Thanks to You, John, I've got some inside me, too...

[healey36]

That first record, simply titled "John Prine", was a revelation. One of my college roommates had it laying around and I must have listened to it 200 times. I picked up a copy and The Old Man, a pretty conservative guy, absolutely loved it. "Sam Stone", "Hello In There", "Illegal Smile", songs that could just gut you. My favorite was "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore", an anti-war song written and sung with a great deal of humor. In my whole life, I only saw The Old Man choke up maybe a half-dozen times...listening to "Paradise" did it to him every time. A wonderful record, well worth a spin. RIP Prine, enjoy paradise...

Healey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ediaZ5DhYjw

[HONDO74]

Healey, if I may ask. what was it about the song Paradise that caused your dad to chock up ?

Paradise by John Prine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEy6EuZp9IY

Lyrics
"Paradise"

When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.

[Chorus:]
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.

[Chorus]

Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.

[Chorus]

When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'
Just five miles away from wherever I am.

[Chorus]

[healey36]

He had spent a lot of time in western Maryland, the George’s Creek Valley, and eastern West Virginia, working on various highway projects. He saw a lot of the devastation wrought by the mining industry and the vast deforestation by the timber/paper industry. That, combined with the poverty of the folks that lived there, he considered an outrage.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time myself in those same places. Not much has changed in the last forty years. Wild and beautiful West Virginia? More like the armpit of America. Go to Cumberland, Maryland and ride the WMSRR to Frostburg, a nice time. Then drive from Frostburg to Westernport down on the Potomac. Absolute devastation. Go to Cass, West Virginia, ride the train. Fun, then drive a few miles and take a look at the local communities. Look at a mountain that’s had the top taken off to get access to a coal seam, or the vast forests of red spruce that don’t exist anymore. It’s pretty tough.

To be fair, a lot of that is an accumulation of 150 years of activity. Resources were thought to be boundless. Unfortunately they weren’t, and the practices of industry left an economically and environmentally devastated region.