John Prine Discovers ‘Singing Mailman Delivers’ Album After Wife Forces Him to Clean Their Garage
Posted on Nov 28th 2011 3:00PM by Cameron Matthews
John Prine certainly didn’t ask to become a world-renowned folk artist. Returning home from the Vietnam War, Prine saw his childhood friends turn into shells of the men they once were. The only way he knew how to cope was through song. After getting a job as a mailman in Chicago’s Maywood suburb, Prine trudged through all types of weather for a decent living while playing clubs three nights a week in the city. He didn’t walk around his mail route dreaming of playing America’s big stages, but he did develop the early hits that made him famous while walking through rain and running from crazed dogs.
Now, at age 65, Prine’s newest release is an introspective look at his early career. After an interview with a local radio station, Prine recorded what would later become ‘The Singing Mailman Delivers,’ featuring nascent versions of ‘Sam Stone’ and ‘Illegal Smile.’ Spinner recently caught up with Prine about the folk legend’s latest album and why he credits his wife with finding the decades-old tapes.
What were the first few songs that were conjured on your old mail route?
Lemme see. ‘Sam Stone,’ I wrote most of that on the mail route. The idea came from this radio we had sitting around where we used to sort the mail in the morning before you went on your route. And this radio sat way up on top of a rack, like with an extension cord, and it had gotten tripped over so many times that the radio had tape all around it. That coupled with [the fact that ] I used to read every magazine on my route before I delivered it. I saw in Time or Newsweek that a guy had written a novel called ‘Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down’ and I really liked the ring of that. I always liked the word radio and the word rodeo. I put rodeo in ‘Angel From Montgomery.’ I could go on singing radio and rodeo in songs forever.
Anyway, I came up with the character Sam Stone, based on some of my friends that all got drafted at the same time. I got sent to Germany and more than a couple of them went to Vietnam. And they came home different guys, you know? I was always trying to explain this to myself. It wasn’t just drugs. Some of them hadn’t been in combat situations but evidently just to be there you were in a combat situation. You didn’t know if you or a friend was gonna step on a land mine. It always got me that the army didn’t, as much as time as they spent training you and put you in a mindset to go kill and survive in the jungle, they don’t bring you back down from that. They throw you back out into society. I think that’s a lot of the problems the GIs have after serving in a combat zone.
Were you always politically minded?
Actually, I never considered myself political at all. But during Vietnam, the country was so divided, especially among the young people. You almost couldn’t help but get caught up in it. Because politics always kind of put me off, you know? [Laughs]
What do think ‘Sam Stone’ means today?
On one hand, I’m really, really surprised that I can even sing it without it becoming a piece of nostalgia. And on the other hand, I understand that those vets that the song appeals to and is about, they don’t go away just because the war went away and a different war came up. They’re here. Their lives haven’t ever gone back to normal — they had to invent a new normal over the years. And to people that weren’t affected by that, I’m not sure. Maybe it’s just a good ballad. I wrote that song, I think, in ’68, on my mail route. If someone were to ask me then if I thought in 10 years I’d be singing that song, I would’ve bet against it.
1. Hello In There 4:05
2. Souvenirs 3:20
3. Great Society Conflict Veteran’s Blues 3:40
4. Paradise 3:10
5. Blue Umbrella 2:31
6. Aw Heck 1:37
7. Illegal Smile 2:38
8. Flashback Blues 1:47
9. The Frying Pan 1:19
10. Sour Grapes 1:59
11. A Star, A Jewel, And A Hoax 1:22
12. Flashback Blues (Live) 2:38
13. Hello In There (Live) 4:42
14. Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore (Live) 3:12
15. The Great Compromise (Live) 6:04
16. Blue Umbrella (Live) 3:49
17. Illegal Smile (Live) 3:19
18. Angel From Montgomery (Live) 3:59
19. A Good Time (Live) 3:48
20. Hey Good Lookin’ / Jambalaya (On The Bayou) (Live) 1:40
21. Quiet Man (Live) 3:04
22. Paradise (Live) 3:37
23. Great Society Conflict Veteran’s Blues (Live) 4:36
24. Spanish Pipedream (Live) 2:58