John Prine’s Fair & Square -- Tony Peyser's Blue State Jukebox

Tony Peyser's "Blue State Jukebox"

June 24, 2005		ARCHIVES
John Prine’s Fair & Square Review by Tony Peyser ---> GET YOUR COPY HERE <--- Like the first time I got drunk, my first kiss or my first look at a Tijuana bible, my first John Prine album was a moment to remember. The year was 1973 and the LP was Sweet Revenge. To the impressionable college kid I was back then, this was an intoxicating mix of real heart, wised up smarts, wicked humor and a get-out-of-my way swagger. Not only did Prine dare to call a song “Onomatopoeia,” the son of a bitch rhymed it: “Bang! went the pistol/Crash! went the window/Ouch! went the song of a gun/Onomatopoeia/I don’t want to see ya/Speaking in a foreign tongue.” Those are still jaw-dropping lyrics. I liked the last Prine album I heard from 1999: covers of country classics done as duets with top female singers like Iris DeMent, Trisha Yearwood and Lucinda Williams. But Fair & Square is his first release of all new material in almost ten years. Hey, give the guy break: he broke a hip and beat cancer of the neck in the interim. His plate, as they say, was full. Over the last 32 years, Prine’s musical ship has altered its course from sweet revenge to sweet melancholy. The opening track, “Glory Of True Love,” is a glorious and spirited salute to romance and enduring passion. The reason so many love songs are drippy is because they reach for heart strings instead of real sentiment and wind up with something saccharine instead. Prine’s natural humor always keeps things on the up-and-up: “Long before I met you darlin’/Lord, I thought I had it all/I could have my lunch in London/And my dinner in St. Paul/I got some friends in Albuquerque/Where the governor calls me ‘Gov’/You can give ‘em all to Goodwill/For the glory of true love.” This is the kind of swoony song you’ll play for your significant other or make you want to go find one ASAP. The languid “Crazy As A Loon” may be my favorite song on the record. With a feet-up-on-the-table charm, Prine looks at a small town boy whose big city dreams take him to Hollywood, Nashville and New York. Unfortunately, that elusive brass ring has definitely gone AWOL. These lines about L.A. hit me like a sucker punch: “This town will make you crazy/Just give it a little time/You’ll be walking ‘round in circles/Down at Hollywood and Vine/You’ll be waiting on a phone call/At the wrong end of a broom/Yes that town’ll make you crazy/Crazy as a loon.” (An actor friend years ago auditioned for a small part of a delivery guy in a movie. A much better known performer --- who had starred in some movies here and in Canada --- showed up in a delivery uniform. My friend thought this was very enterprising. That is, until he realized this fellow was not at the audition but merely bringing lunch from a local restaurant to the casting directors. I have no doubt this ex-actor spent some time, as Prine writes, walking ‘round in circles at Hollywood and Vine.) As skilled as Prine is at telling stories, he also shows here a knack for pulling back and leaving out a few details. He’s like a veteran baseball reliever who in a key situation knows exactly when to throw an off-speed pitch and get a needed strike. “Taking A Walk” appears to be about parents of different generations trying to make amends for years of being absent. At least I think this is what it’s about; God knows, Prine doesn’t draw a map here. But the mournful melody sure gives you a hint and lyrics like this let you know that reconciliation isn’t going to come quick or easy: “(She) looked me in the face/Like she never did before/I felt about as welcome/As a Wal-Mart Superstore.” Once again, Prine zigs where others zag as he throws some levity into a dramatic encounter. The most pointed song on Fair & Square is the dirge-like “Some Humans Ain’t Human.” It soberly suggests that lots of folks --- including ones who regularly go to church --- aren’t nearly as compassionate as they think they are. And then Prine pushes the thought even further: “Have you ever noticed/When you’re feeling really good/There’s always a pigeon/That’ll come shit on your hood/Or you’re feeling your freedom/And the world’s off your back/Some cowboy from Texas/Starts his own war in Iraq.” Another of Fair & Square’s quieter tracks is “I Hate It When That Happens To Me.” Tom Waits or Leon Redbone could easily have sung this saga of a small town fellow whose romantic entanglements make some big local headlines. Prine --- raised in Chicago but with long family roots in Kentucky --- is almost singing his slightly screwball and somewhat hung over version of “The Tennessee Waltz.” Come to think of it, “I Hate It When That Happens To Me” might have even shown up as a bonus track on a newly issued version of Randy Newman’s southern-themed classic, Good Ol’ Boys. “She Is My Everything” is another lively love song with some deliriously over the top lyrics: “She knows everybody/From Muhammad Ali/To teaching Bruce Lee/How to do karate.” Livelier still is Prine’s cover of “Bear Creek Blues” by A.P. Carter of the legendary Carter Family. The water in that creek supposedly tastes like cherry wine and the song fittingly is put over with an intoxicating mix of sweet mandolin and rough electric guitar. Prine sings this as if it’s set in a world where only the moon shines and there’s plenty of moonshine. On my birthday last year, my old high school pal Boyd called. I hadn’t heard from him in a while. It made my day as we picked things up as if no time had passed at all. Hearing from Boyd was like being sent Fair & Square. After all those years, I’m lucky to have a friend like Boyd. And we’re all lucky to still have a genial knucklehead like John Prine to supply more unforgettable material for the soundtrack of our lives. * * * (If you have made an album you think might be right for Blue State Jukebox, or just want to recommend one, contact me at the below e-mail. I might not be able to respond to every submission but I’ll definitely listen to every one. And just because it might not be exactly what I’m looking for, that doesn’t mean any given album is unworthy. Word to the wise: it helps if there’s something social or political on the album since BuzzFlash traffics in those commodities.) ---> GET YOUR COPY HERE <--- * * * Tony Peyser writes political poems every day for BuzzFlash and draws editorial cartoons twice weekly. His new music column, The Blue State Jukebox, is now a monthly feature for BuzzFlash. Mr. Peyser (who loves referring to himself in the third person) is shamelessly using BuzzFlash as a springboard to help him land his dream job: becoming the new Washington Bureau Chief for Talon News.