John Prine

[fox69]

"Living In The Future"
(originally named "Jumpin Jehosaphat")

"Living In The Future"
(originally named "Jumpin Jehosaphat")



Jehosaphat the mongrel cat
Jumped off the roof today
Some would say he fell but I could tell
He did himself away
His eyes weren't bright like they were the night
We played checkers on the train
God Bless his soul he was a tootsie roll
But he's a dead cat just the same

[Chorus:]
We are living in the future
I'll tell you how I know
I read it in the paper
Fifteen years ago
We're all driving rocket ships
And talking with our minds
And wearing turquoise jewelry
And standing in soup lines
We are standing in soup lines

Jake the barber's lonely daughter
Went down to her daddy's shop
She plugged herself to a barber pole
And took a little off the top
Pressure on the left. Pressure on the right
Pressure in the middle of the hole
I'm goin' to Maine on a forty foot crane
I'm gonna use it for a fishin' pole

[Chorus]

Old Sarah Brown sells tickets down
At the all night picture show
Where they grind out sex
And they rate it with an "X"
Just to make a young man's pants grow
No tops no bottoms just hands and feet
Screaming the posters out on the street
Strangling the curious and the weak
We give 'em what they want to see - O

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Long Monday"

"Long Monday"



You and me
Sittin' in the back my memory
Like a honey bee
Buzzin' 'round a glass of sweet Chablis
Radio's on
Windows rolled up
And my mind's rolled down
Headlights shining
Like silver moons
Rollin' on the ground

We made love
In everyway love can be made
And we made time
Look like time
Could never fade
Friday Night
We both made the guitar hum
Saturday made Sunday feel
Like it would never come

Gonna be a long Monday
Sittin' all alone on a mountain
By a river that has no end
Gonna be a long Monday
Stuck like the tick of a clock
That's come unwound - again

Soul to soul
Heart to heart
And cheek to cheek
Come on baby
Give me a kiss
That'll last all week

The thought of you leavin' again
Brings me down
The promise of
Your sweet love
Brings me around

It's gonna be a long Monday
Sittin' all alone on a mountain
By a river that has no end
It's gonna be a long Monday
Stuck like the tick of a clock
That's come unwound - again
And again

 

[fox69]

"Loose Talk"
(feat. Connie Smith)

"Loose Talk"
(feat. Connie Smith)



So long we've been married
Life's burdens we carried
Though faith kept us humble and made our love true
But plans that we make up
Someone seems to break up
Oh, darlin', what else can we do?

We may have to leave here
To find peace of mind, dear
Someplace where we can live a life of our own
I know you love me And happy we could be
If some folks would leave us alone

When I go out walkin'
There's lots of loose talkin'
They say we're unhappy, and we'll drift apart
But darlin' it's not true
Because I still love you
And I do with all of my heart

They say you are leavin'
That you are deceivin'
But you tell me they say the same about me
Oh, but we'll show them they're wrong
That loose talk can do harm
And hope that the truth they will see

We may have to leave here
To find peace of mind, dear
Someplace where we can live a life of our own
I know you love me
And happy we could be
If some folks would leave us alone
If some folks would leave us alone

 

[fox69]

"Love, Love, Love"

"Love, Love, Love"


He stumbled through the alley with his long coat on
Nothing but a bottle in his hand
She sat in her apartment lonesome to the bone
Wondering what had happened to her man

[Chorus:]
Love, love, love, love
Nobody ever understands
All the things that go,
Between a woman and a man.

When they'd walk down the sidewalk the street would shine
With the kind of love no human heart can fake
And they vowed to stay together till the end of time
Like the couple that stands on top of the wedding cake

[Chorus]

If I should live to a ripe old age
The only lesson I may ever learn
Is to not stand so close to the flame of love
Unless you are willing to get burned

[Chorus]

All the things that go,
Between a woman and a man.

 

[fox69]

"Lulu Walls"

"Lulu Walls"


One evening getting dark
We first met at the park
Just sitting by the fountain all alone
I lifted up my hat
And then began to chat
She said she'd allow me to see her at her home

[Chorus:]
Such a star I've never seen
She's as pretty as the queen
She's as perfect as an angel from above
If she'd only be my wife
I'd live happy all me life
With that aggravating beauty Lulu Walls.

If she were only mine
I'd build a house so fine
And around it so many fences tall
It would make me jealously
To think that none but me
Could gaze upon that beauty Lulu Walls.

[Chorus]

One evening getting late
Well, I met her at the gate
I asked her if she'd wed me in the fall
But she only turned away
And nothing would she say
That aggravating beauty Lulu Walls.

[Chorus]

With that aggravating beauty Lulu Walls.

 

[fox69]

"Maureen, Maureen"

"Maureen, Maureen"


Maureen, Maureen,
I shot a doctor last night on the airplane
Well, they said he wouldn't hurt us
But he got me real nervous and mean
He was fat and he stank
And God knows that he drank more than we do
So I shot him in the first class
Then I bailed out and ran home to you

[Chorus:]
But you don't believe me
I could tell by your smile
Honey, why don't you leave me
Get lost for awhile, Maureen.

Maureen, Maureen,
There's a hole in between where we come from
And the things that I'm thinking
Ain't necessary the things that I say
I may have lied to myself
But I tried to tell God how I love you
But even He don't answer
His phone anymore when I pray

Maureen, Maureen,
I shot a doctor last night on the airplane
Well, they said he wouldn't hurt us
But he got me real nervous and mean
Real nervous and mean

 

[fox69]

"Me, Myself And I"

"Me, Myself And I"



Well, tonight I'll throw a party and I know who I'll invite
There's a strange and lonely person with whom I'll spend this night
There'll be no old sad memories to haunt me till I die
In that room there'll be a bottle
And me, myself and I
In that room there'll be a bottle
And me, myself and I

I've been introduced to many people I don't understand
I've been in the house of lonely. I've shook a thousand shaking hands
But tonight I'll be with someone who will look me in the eye
And in that room there'll be a bottle
And me, myself and I
In that room there'll be a bottle
And me, myself and I

At that party you'll see me when I was just a child
In a room full of happy with a heart so meek and mild
And that child will meet a ghost that will haunt him oh so bad
From a family of confusion pretending love they never had.

So, tonight I'll throw that party and I know just what I'll do
Yes, I'll meet myself at midnight and cry the whole night through
Yeah, I'll meet that ghost of sadness and he'll look me in the eye
And in that room there'll be that bottle
And me, myself and I
In that room there'll be a bottle
And me, myself and I

 

[fox69]

"Mexican Home"

"Mexican Home"


It got so hot, last night, I swear
You couldn't hardly breathe
Heat lightning burnt the sky like alcohol
I sat on the porch without my shoes
And I watched the cars roll by
As the headlights raced
To the corner of the kitchen wall.

[Chorus:]
Mama dear
Your boy is here
Far across the sea
Waiting for
That sacred core
That burns inside of me
And I feel a storm
All wet and warm
Not ten miles away
Approaching
My Mexican home.

My God! I cried, it's so hot inside
You could die in the living room
Take the fan from the window
Prop the door back with a broom
The cuckoo clock has died of shock
And the windows feel no pane
The air's as still
As the throttle on a funeral train.

[Chorus]

My father died on the porch outside
On an August afternoon
I sipped bourbon and cried
With a friend by the light of the moon
So its hurry! hurry! Step right up
It's a matter of life or death
The sun is going down
And the moon is just holding its breath.

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Middle Man"

"Middle Man"


I was sitting in a diner
With a girl named Flo
She wouldn't say yes
But she couldn't say no
She said "Darling, Can I get a middle man?"
She was engaged to a fellow
On the lay a way plan
But she carried all her money
In a coffee can
She said "Darling, Can I get a middle man?"
The cook looked over
With a short order face
Dropped a fork
And he saw Flo's legs
Straightened his apron
And burnt my eggs
I got competition
Everywhere I go
These days

She was leaning on the juke box
And was lookin' real good
Like Natalie Wood
On a Pontiac hood
I said "Darling, I think I need a little hand"
Ya see, I've seen my downs
I've seen my ups
I seen miniature dogs
In coffee cups
But "Darling I ain't never seen a middle man"

Flo talked slow
Like real wet paint
She said
"A middle man's there
When the other ones ain't
He's got a left handed manner
That leans to the right
Sleeps all day
And keeps it up all night..."
... I got an aunt in Ohio
And a boat that won't row
Some veterans insurance
And nowhere to go
"Darling, Can I be your middle man?"

[Spoken:]
If I could get the money in that coffee can
I could open me up a lemonade stand
Send all the kids off to Pakistan
Make Flo happy
If I can

Jerry Mahoney and Johnny B. Goode
Are gonna buy me a house in Hollywood
"Darling I think I got the perfect plan"
"We're gonna save half a dollars
And sell 'em to France
Buy us a record
And learn how to dance
And Darling I'll always be your middle
Darling Go buy a griddle
Darling I wanna be your middle man

 

[fox69]

"Milwaukee Here I Come"
(feat. Melba Montgomery)

"Milwaukee Here I Come"
(feat. Melba Montgomery)



I'm gonna get on that old turnpike and I'm gonna ride
I'm gonna leave this town 'til you decide
Which one you want the most them Opry stars or me
Milwaukee here I come from Nashville, Tennessee

Milwaukee is where we were before we came here
Working in a brewery making the finest beer
You came to me on a payday night said let's go to Tennessee
So we drove to Nashville to the Grand Ole Opry

I'm gonna get on that old turnpike and I'm gonna ride
I'm gonna leave this town 'til you decide
Which one you want the most those Opry stars or me
Milwaukee here I come from Nashville, Tennessee

We were watching TV Ernest Tubb was singing loud
I said that's the man for me I love him, there's no doubt
I'm leaving you and going now to find out where he's at
If I can't get him I'll settle for that bluegrass Lester Flatt.

I'm gonna get on that old turnpike and I'm gonna ride
I'm gonna leave this town 'til you decide
Which one you want the most
Me or Jerry Lee
Milwaukee here I come from Nashville, Tennessee
Milwaukee here I come from Nashville, Tennessee