Top Ten John Prine Songs: Picture Show (#5)
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (69113)
United States
May 19, 2016 9:39pm CST
My last entry in my top ten lists is for John Prine, whom I consider one of the greatest songwriters in music. Just picking ten was tough! After I started this I decided my next ones will be 20 favorites. Sorry, John. 
#5: Picture Show
One thing's for sure: Prine must love John Garfield. He has a song called "The Late John Garfield Blues," and in this song he again references the actor ("John Garfield in the afternoon, Montgomery Clift at night"). Garfield isn't the star here, though.
Superficially this song is about James Dean. "A young man from a small town with a very large imagination" is how the song begins and ends. It also meanders through the plight of the American Indian ("A Mocca man in a wigwam sitting on a reservation with a big black hole in the belly of his soul, waiting on an explanation, while the white man sits on his fat can and takes pictures of the Navajo").
As with his longtime friend Steve Goodman (see my discussion for the #5 song, "Between the Lines"), Prine can put multiple meanings into a song. That's what makes him so good...and what makes this song so good.
PS -- yes, that is Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in the video. (Sorry, @JohnRoberts )
Picture Show
Written by John Prine
From The Missing Years, 1991
Here's "Picture Show" from the Grammy-winning The Missing Years:
#5: Picture Show
One thing's for sure: Prine must love John Garfield. He has a song called "The Late John Garfield Blues," and in this song he again references the actor ("John Garfield in the afternoon, Montgomery Clift at night"). Garfield isn't the star here, though.
Superficially this song is about James Dean. "A young man from a small town with a very large imagination" is how the song begins and ends. It also meanders through the plight of the American Indian ("A Mocca man in a wigwam sitting on a reservation with a big black hole in the belly of his soul, waiting on an explanation, while the white man sits on his fat can and takes pictures of the Navajo").
As with his longtime friend Steve Goodman (see my discussion for the #5 song, "Between the Lines"), Prine can put multiple meanings into a song. That's what makes him so good...and what makes this song so good.
PS -- yes, that is Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in the video. (Sorry, @JohnRoberts )
Picture Show
Written by John Prine
From The Missing Years, 1991
Here's "Picture Show" from the Grammy-winning The Missing Years:
"Picture Show" Written by John Prine Published by Weona Music (Admin. by Bug Music) Courtesy of Oh Boy Records Video by Jim Shea From the album The Missing Y...
4 people like this
4 responses
@teamfreak16 (43418)
• Denver, Colorado
20 May 16
When I read, and then heard "John Garfield," for some reason I got mixed up and thought he was singing about the actor Alan Garfield. And I thought "That makes no sense whatsoever." Good song.
2 people like this
@JohnRoberts (109846)
• Los Angeles, California
20 May 16
An Allen Garfield reference! He was in The Conversation and Nashville.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43418)
• Denver, Colorado
20 May 16
@JohnRoberts - And don't forget Skateboard! He was in Skateboard with Tony Alva. Oh, and Leif Garrett.
@JohnRoberts (109846)
• Los Angeles, California
20 May 16
I find Prine's interest in John Garfield fascinating. I wonder what inspired it. In film history, Garfield is considered the movie's first anti-hero rebel long before Brando as Garfield started in the late 30s.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (69113)
• United States
20 May 16
I think the only Garfield movie I've seen is Body and Soul.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (69113)
• United States
20 May 16
@JohnRoberts -- Yeah, that was a classic, but I don't think I've ever seen it. I know I certainly didn't see the remake.
@JohnRoberts (109846)
• Los Angeles, California
20 May 16
@FourWalls That's a later film of his. He starred in The Postman Always Rings Twice.
1 person likes this
