A Note from Iris Dement on John Prine
Iris Dement and John Prine.
Like so many of you, I am deeply saddened by the passing of John Prine. It is my prayer that all the love he gave to this world will be returned ten-fold to his family — the ones he cherished the most — and that that love will help sustain them through their grief.
Having known John for some 30 years now, a flood of memories are swirling around in my head. And as John had a way of making even the most mundane seem special, any one of those memories would be justified in retelling but for now, the quality about John that keeps coming to the forefront of my mind might best be summed up by something Nelson Mandela once said: “It never hurts to think too highly of a person; often they become ennobled and act better because of it.”
We all know that John ennobled the characters in his songs. Any of us lucky enough to have seen one of his shows, knows he also did this for his audience. I, for one, happen to know he did it at truck stops and Dairy Queens, too. John was one of the all-time great ennoblers of others.
Some years ago, I placed a call to my now dear friend, Reverend Samuel E. Mann and I told him I wanted to join his church but that I did not take the Bible literally and I didn’t want to say I believed a bunch of things I didn’t so I could be part of a group. To which, Sam replied: “We do not believe in a magic Jesus. Jesus lived his life loving and caring for ‘the least of these’ — that was the miracle. And it was enough!”
John Prine was, without a doubt, one of the greatest songwriters this world will ever know. Many people more qualified than me have written about why that is. And many more will follow. Greatest or not, here’s what it comes down to for me and here’s why he rests on my heart’s mountain top: Because he cared enough to look — at me, you, all of us — until he saw what was noble and then he wrapped us up in melodies and sung us back to ourselves.
That was the miracle of John Prine. And it was enough.
“Wasteland of the Free”
Living in the wasteland of the free…
We got preachers dealing in politics and diamond mines
And their speech is growing increasingly unkind
They say they are Christ’s disciples
But they don’t look like Jesus to me
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
We got politicians running races on corporate cash
Now don’t tell me they don’t turn around and kiss them peoples’ ass
You may call me old-fashioned
But that don’t fit my picture of a true democracy
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
We got CEO’s making two hundred times the workers’ pay
But they’ll fight like hell against raising the minimum wage
And If you don’t like it, mister, they’ll ship your job
To some third-world country ‘cross the sea
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
Where the poor have now become the enemy
Let’s blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free
We got little kids with guns fighting inner city wars
So what do we do, we put these little kids behind prison doors
And we call ourselves the advanced civilization
That sounds like crap to me
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
We got high-school kids running ’round in Calvin Klein and Guess
Who cannot pass a sixth-grade reading test
But if you ask them, they can tell you
The name of every crotch on MTV
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
We kill for oil, then we throw a party when we win
Some guy refuses to fight, and we call that the sin
But he’s standing up for what he believes in
And that seems pretty damned American to me
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
Where the poor have now become the enemy
Let’s blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free
While we sit gloating in our greatness
Justice is sinking to the bottom of the sea
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free