Some Humans Ain't Human notes

1.   On the Cowboy from Texas: “He’s a pretty easy target. I tried to avoid it but I couldn’t. The political climate here is a lot stranger than it was during Vietnam. During Vietnam, when you saw people on the street, you knew which side they were on. But you don’t know anymore. It just got to the point where if you weren’t saying anything then people were taking it that you supported him, so I thought ‘Jeez, if I get hit by a bus I would sure like the world to know that I was not a Republican.” 
     "What bothers me the most is the way this administration is toward people who are dissenting, the way they're coming down on people," Prine says. "They act as if you're not supporting the troops if you have anything negative to say about Bush or any of his people. That seems totally un-American to me. It's the total flipside of what this country is supposed to be about."
      "The song wasn't meant to be political, he says. Indeed, those few words are the only thing political about it. But they're genuine, and came to me while in Ireland, my wife's native land and the place where my family spends its summers. Bush had just made a visit to the airport and they had it closed down because there were so many protesters. They kept the protesters 15 miles away so Bush wouldn't know what they thought of him," he recalls. "It's real evident when you're living over there two or three months at a time what the world how they're looking at us."   (2005) ~John Prine
   
2. “It always bothers me when I hear, ‘If you don’t support the war, then you don’t support the troops.’ That’s a bunch of baloney,” he states with chuckle. “I don’t know many that don’t support our troops, ’cause they’re out there for us, whether or not we like where they’re at. I got no problem with the guys in the service; it’s the guys who sent ’em there. It’s the same old stuff as Vietnam. I figured being quiet in these times means being supportive, so I didn’t want to be quiet.” (Charleston City Paper April 2005)
   
3. When I first started singing that one, there was really a mixed reaction. It wasn’t exactly 50-50, but there were some people who would really get pissed off. And I thought, what are those people doing at the show? I’ve been doing this for 35 years, and I thought it was fairly clear where I stood politically, you know? I never tried to rub it in anybody’s face, but I thought it was pretty clear that I wasn’t closet Republican.
     And man, people wrote me these letters, saying ‘Man, I’ve been listenin’ to you for years and I have all of your records, blah, blah, blah’ and they smash up my CD and send it back to me in the same envelope. And I thought to myself, ‘Why are these people following George Bush?’ But since then in the last 13 or 14 months, people have finally started getting turned around, wondering what the hell are we doing in Iraq.
     It’s really odd after having those songs about Vietnam and living through that, and singing those songs back then, and singing those songs right now. I didn’t think twice about write that song today. I was in Ireland when I wrote it and Bush had just made a visit there, and man, when you’re livin’ overseas and you’re lookin’ at what your country’s doing, it even stands out more so. Especially when we do stuff that really puts off the rest of the world. (july 10, 2006 for a Houston Press interview)
   
4. I sat down and wrote this like the preacher was talking to the congregation... hmmmm hhmmmm... about treating each other a little bit better. Me and Bonnie and Keb Mo sang it in Des Moine IA - some woman stood up and said "Dick Cheney" I wanted to give her a refrigerator. I don't say cowboy... sometimes it's hotshot... mostly its asshole... most people know who I'm talking about. (interview on Sirius' Outlaw Country 2005)
   

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