Writes George Giles:

America lost one of its greatest song writers earlier this week. John Prine excelled at writing for the common man in the simplest of lyrics, something Bob Dylan never mastered. He was the Thomas Paine of traditional country bards as opposed to Bruce Springsteen’s sophomoric socialism.

John had the bad fortune of being in Europe after the epidemic started with his multiple co-morbidities to boot.

In 1971 he wrote:

“Your flag decal won’t get you into heaven anymore.

It’s already overcrowded from your dirty little war.

Jesus don’t like killin’ no matter what the reasons for.”