My Life In 100 Songs: Song 67 - Fish And Whistle By John Prine

I been thinking lately ‘bout the people I meet
the carwash on the corner and the hole on the street

The people I meet talk about Netflix. Or else they talk about their overseas vacations, with emphasis on package tours, hotels, costs, and food. We meet in restaurants and order dinner, beer, wine, and coffee. We meet in groups that talk about books or current events. But Netflix rules.

The carwash on the corner is attached to a gas station whose prices fluctuate every day. I am imagining a world where all the prices do this, where you never know how much change to bring to the store because the price of milk is so volatile, where a basket full of groceries could cost you $100 this week and $175 next week, and $85 the week after. But I’m also imaging a world where oil companies are made to act responsibly, and the corruption of the gas price game is seen for what it is. While I’m at it, I’m imagining a world where banks can’t charge 20% on credit card balances and insurance companies have to pay for medical procedures whether they want to or not. And imagine what might happen if someone woke up and realized the implications of a financial world that’s based on speculation, fear, and panic.

The way my ankles hurt with shoes on my feet

I take off my shoes in the morning. I do this at work, while I sit at my desk, usually with my feet tucked under me. I am short enough to do this, which is one advantage to my lack of height. The other advantage is fuel efficiency.

And I wonder if I’m gonna see tomorrow

Tomorrow will take care of itself whether I see it or not. Meanwhile, I need to worry about my blood pressure, so I need to make an appointment with my cardiologist, because I’m lucky enough to have one, and he will yell at me for taking so long to get back to him, and for sure he will scold me for not buying a monitor, and all that yelling is really bad for my blood pressure, so I probably shouldn’t go...

Father forgive us for what we must do

Yes. Forgive us. Sometimes we cross when the light says don’t cross. Sometimes we sneak a peek at Facebook during work hours. Sometimes we eat food with trans-fats. We shop at Wal-Mart. We eat meat and eggs which supports factory farms which promotes cruelty to animals and the brutalization of the people that work there. Forgive us.

You forgive us, we’ll forgive you
We’ll forgive each other ‘till we both turn blue

We’ll forgive you for creating banks and insurance companies. We’ll forgive you for the bone-headed city engineers that don’t know how to co-ordinate traffic lights, which encourages people to run red lights and to cross when it isn’t safe. We’ll forgive you for creating food that tastes good and makes us unhealthy. We’ll forgive you for cancer and murder and terrorism and death.

And we’ll whistle and go fishing in heaven

I’ll pass on the fishing, and even on the whistling. Give me all the music I want, and give me coffee, and give me some really good pastry with no trans-fats, and something good to read, and give me the ability to read and listen to music at the same time. And I’ll be happy for all eternity.

I was in the army but I never dug a trench
I used to bust my knuckles on a monkey wrench

We guys have all these expectations thrust upon us. I couldn’t use a monkey wrench either, nor barely a pair of pliers or a screwdriver or a hammer. I’d hire someone. I do my building with words.

I’d go to town and drink
Give the girls a pinch

But I don’t think they ever even noticed me

I wasn’t in the army but I was in school, and we weren’t drinking much then, but for sure the girls didn’t notice me. If I pinched them they’d slug me. Or worse, they’d just whine “stop it!” real loud.

Fish and whistle, whistle and fish
Eat everything that they put on your dish

Giving up meat, fish eventually. Buying free range eggs. I no longer want to eat eggs from chickens who have their beaks ripped off to prevent them from killing each other because of stress caused by lack of space which is necessary to reach an economy of scale.

And when we get through
We’ll make a big wish
That we never have to do this again,
again...
again...

Sometimes (often) I wonder where my years have gone, and yes it’s a cliché, but being a cliché doesn’t make it untrue. But it also doesn’t mean that I’d go back and do any of it again...

On my very first job I said ‘thank you’ and ‘please’
They made me scrub a parking lot down on my knees
Then I got fired for being scared of bees
And they only give me 50 cents an hour

On my very first job I had to account for my time by results, and I got a bonus if my results exceeded the hourly expectation, but the bonus did not double the pay for double the results, so that left me having to play games. It was an auspicious beginning.

And being scared of bees was the only thing I didn’t get fired for...

Father forgive us for what we must do
You forgive us, we’ll forgive you
We’ll forgive each other ‘till we both turn blue
And we’ll whistle and go fishing in heaven
we’ll whistle and go fishing in heaven
we’ll whistle and go fishing in heaven...

We'll whistle and go fishing in heaven...