Anthology of American Folk Music

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September 18, 2005

Comments

Dan

Thanks for this insightful writeup. It's a shame the audience than can appreciate it is so small. Keep up the good work.

zac

enjoyed this, thanks.

Charlie Mike

And live through lives in between
And live through life's in-between


I really hear this as:
And live THEIR lives in between

I have a clear copy of this song, so I really hear it clear, plus I think it scans perfectly with the previous lyrics


gdogg

It's a shame the audience than can appreciate it is so small.

Judith S. McGill

I loved the song for the feeling in it, but had no idea at all what it was about. My son did a little research and found this. Thanks, it clears it up for me. Wouldn't want to be handcuffed to McCarthy on the day of judgement. Talk about a trail of ruined lives!

Antonio Feitosa

I love this song, and use to hear the kris kristofferson´s cover on "live at the philharmonic" album. And I am always trying to figure out what are they in fact singing about...

Great to see I am not alone and others were also in the blue...

Thanks for sharing your point here

Nick Foglia

I have been a fan of John Garfield for over 45 years, never heard this song before, just happened on it while surfing the net. It's strange that Garfield has not become an icon to the young like James Dean. Garfield wad way ahead of his time he had so much youthful angst even before the word came into vogue. A true rebel and if he had lived and gotten through the WITCH HUNT, I believe the 50's would have been his greatest decade as an artist. He was of my parents generation so I didn't know of him when he was alive, but you just have to look deep into his face to see all the dissolution of youth that comes from a true rebel.

Dale

I have been a John Prine fan for decades, seen him live several times and met him back stage once. This is my favorite Prine song and I have always wondered about the meaning even though I had all of the correct words. I guess you don't need to know the meaning to still get the feeling right.
The lyric "Old man sleeps with his conscience at night, your kid sleeps with his dreams" may be one of the best ever written.
Thnks for this summary.

Katherine

I have a friend who says I should listen to John Prine. I ask for a good title- I want to get the best, to make a good impression. My friend say The Late John Garfield Blues. I really loved this song especially the joke part. Thank you for furthering my enjoyment with your summary.

Ed

the line "From winos to dime-store Jews" leaves me wondering. what exactly is a "dime-store Jew"?

Julie Garfield

Beautifully said.
Julie Garfield,
Daughter of John Garfield

Randy

I believe the line is:

The horses scream, their nightmare's dreams

Mitch Ritter

http://driftwoodmagazine.com/2011/04/07/1711/ Just reviewed the most recent Prine In Person & On Stage along with the Oh Boy Records tribute CD to the songs of John Prine. Both contain versions of "The Late John Garfield Blues." While I've felt at least back into the last decade that Prine was getting at something about the inadequacies of a "melting pot" metaphor when so many who maintain ethnic ties in the USA can be left behind by mainstream success (hence a young Jewish Ukranian poor immigrant's kid taking his ambition to Hollywood with adopted 'non-ethnic' name)and
the song feels like a wistful glance back at what is lost in the trade-off of one's family roots for mainstream acceptance, this new gloss on Prine's entering Dylan's
expanding frame of the pop song to include modernistic blurring of mulitple viewpoints & narrative voices adds a new dimension to listening with fresh ears and imaginative eyes. The chiming church bell thread from Blind Lemon Jefferson's thumbing of his bass strings down to Dylan's debut and further down to Steve Goodman and early 70's use electric guitar to accent the tolling church bell may or may not be plausible, yet as a recording technique it just about became a cliche (hear early Byrds and McGuinn's 12-string electric Rickenbacker from "Turn, Turn, Turn" onward. Garfield's issues as they play into this Prine song remain open to intuition and interpretation. I don't hear any of either in Sara & Sean Watkins version on the Prine tribute disc.

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