The best way to write a song is to think of something else and then the song kind of creeps in. The beginning makes no sense whatsoever. It just, like, rhymes. And then all of a sudden I'll go into, I am an old woman named after my mother. John Prine More Quotes by John Prine More Quotes From John Prine Johnny Cash was like Abraham Lincoln to me. John Prine abraham-lincoln like me cash I think if you write from your own gut, you'll come up with something interesting, whereas if you sit around guessing what people want, you end up with the kind of same schlock that everybody else has got. John Prine end think you people Ignorance is bliss as a writer, I think. John Prine i-think think bliss ignorance After a couple bouts with cancer and everything, black cats are nothin', you know? John Prine cats know you black I'd rather get a hot dog or a doughnut than write a song. John Prine write dog hot song Some voices don't blend. They just kinda rub against each other. John Prine blend against some just I sound like that old guy down the street that doesn't chase you out of his apple tree. John Prine I think I've finally, after 72 years, gotten used to my voice, and it sounds like a friend now instead of an enemy. John Prine I thought I was grounded. I thought from my kinda blue-collar outlook on life that I would call myself a grounded person. I was not. I was like a balloon flying around in the air. And as soon as our first child was born, boom - my feet came right down to the ground. John Prine I used to read a lot of Steinbeck, and I admired Roger Miller and Bob Dylan. John Prine When I was a boy, my family used to watch a lot of Laurel and Hardy. John Prine Yeah, early '71 is when I got my record contract. I had a record come out by August of '71. Things happened really fast. John Prine Well, maybe it's past Caroline Branch bedtime, but tell Caroline Branch I said happy birthday. John Prine I didn't expect to do this for a living, being a recording artist, i was just playing music for the fun of it and writing songs. That was kind of my escape, you know, from the humdrum of the world. John Prine At least they left with a voice to sing. I think it improved my voice, if anything. I always had a hard time listening to my singing before my surgery, it dropped down lower and feels friendlier to me. John Prine
