USA, 1971, country / singer-songwriter / contemporary folk

John Prine – John Prine: It’s a time-honored country tradition to sing about Jesus while drunk, but Prine does it differently. He calls Our Blessed Lord as witness to all the meaningless deaths soldiers are sent to by bloodsucking politicians in rich suits. There are five songs that are either direct criticisms of the Korean War or explorations of the isolating psychological aftermath on a soldier’s mind, as that soldier navigates the wreckage of his life, futilely searching for any meaningful human contact, a search that ultimately leads to suicide. Time passes into loneliness as you’re locked inside your own meaningless existence, numbed by alcoholism and drug abuse. You have time to sit and do nothing and wallow in your survivor’s guilt and mourn the loss of that world of your childhood when everything was still beautiful.