Sam Stone (c)John Prine
Sam Stone came home,
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas.
And the time that he served,
Had shattered all his nerves,
And left a little shrapnel in his knee.
But the morphine eased the pain,
And the grass grew round his brain,
And gave him all the confidence he lacked,
With a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back.
Chorus:
There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes,
Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears,
Don't stop to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
Mmm....
Sam Stone's welcome home
Didn't last too long.
He went to work when he'd spent his last dime
And Sammy took to stealing
When he got that empty feeling
For a hundred dollar habit without overtime.
And the gold rolled through his veins
Like a thousand railroad trains,
And eased his mind in the hours that he chose,
While the kids ran around wearin' other peoples' clothes...
Repeat Chorus:
Sam Stone was alone
When he popped his last balloon
Climbing walls while sitting in a chair
Well, he played his last request
While the room smelled just like death
With an overdose hovering in the air
But life had lost its fun
And there was nothing to be done
But trade his house that he bought on the G. I. Bill
For a flag draped casket on a local heroes' hill.
Repeat Chorus
[Says Prine: "I wrote part of `Sam Stone' on the mail route. 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 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 a 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 that chorus. I am proud of 'Sam Stone', ( first performed in his Chicago debut) It actually kind of means a little more to me now because it gets labeled an anti-war song, and all the problems the vets have had through the years have come out recently. I was writing about coming back home at the same time some of my buddies were coming home from 'Nam and Korea (Prine was drafted in 1966 and spent two years in Germany as a mechanic). Things were never quite the same for us after that, I was just trying to explain it to myself. I never get tired of that song." - From UNCUT magazine Jan 2005
here are two other of his anti-war songs:
John Prine -- "The Great Compromise"
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 And she was born on the fourth of july Well she lived in an aluminum house trailer And she worked in a juke box saloon And she spent all the money 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
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
(repeat chorus)
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
(repeat chorus)
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
(repeat chorus)
JOHN PRINE - "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore"
While digesting Reader's Digest In the back of a dirty book store, A plastic flag, with gum on the back, Fell out on the floor. Well, I picked it up and I ran outside Slapped it on my window shield, And if I could see old Betsy Ross I'd tell her how good I feel.
[Chorus:]
But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
They're already overcrowded
>From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
Well, I went to the bank this morning And the cashier he said to me, "If you join the Christmas club We'll give you ten of them flags for free." Well, I didn't mess around a bit I took him up on what he said. And I stuck them stickers all over my car And one on my wife's forehead.
[Chorus]
Well, I got my window shield so filled With flags I couldn't see. So, I ran the car upside a curb And right into a tree. By the time they got a doctor down I was already dead. And I'll never understand why the man Standing in the Pearly Gates said...
"But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
We're already overcrowded
>From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more."