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01-09-2007

John Prine’s Images of God and Male Melancholia: Terror, Forgiveness, and the Persistence of Desire

Author: Philip Browning Helsel

Published in: Journal of Religion and Health | Issue 3/2007

Abstract

Examines the God-representations of the country-folk singer John Prine in the light of psychological theory about male melancholia, drawing from Donald Capps and Erik H. Erikson. Describes the manner in which songwriting serves as a therapeutic enterprise to express and interpret melancholia in Prine's lyrics, especially in the songs "Saddle in the Rain" and "Fish and Whistle." At times these images evoke terror and at other times they humorously erase the authority divide between the divine and the human, suggesting that God may even need to be forgiven. Describing how melancholia is rooted in the man's experience with mother, this article interprets Prine's image of God in light of the need for sustenance, acknowledgement, and care.

Prine is afraid of his own anger and its destructive potentialities, as shown in the song Bruised Oranges/Chain of Sorrow. “It don’t do no good to get angry/so help me I know/for a heart stained in anger/grows weak and grows bitter/You’ll become your own prisoner/as you watch yourself sit there/get caught in the trap/of your very own chain of sorrow.”

We see this same kind of melancholic circularity in other songs, such as “That’s the Way that the World Goes Round” which states “You’re up one day, the next you’re down/It’s a half-an-inch of water, and you think you’re gonna drown/That’s the way that the world goes round.” As always, Prine follows the melancholy closely with humorous images, seemingly to take some of the sting out of the despair.

Capps D. (1997) Men, religion, and melancholia: James, Otto, Jung, and Erikson. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press

Capps D. (2006). The spirituality of boys: The Rebel Pastoral Psychology, Forthcoming.

Erikson E. H. (1968) Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton & Co

Harris S. L., Gloria P. (1998) Classical mythology: Images and insights (2nd ed.). Sacramento: California State University

Himes G. (1998) John Prine. In: Paul K (Eds). The encyclopedia of country music. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Kern, J. (Producer) & Petra, M. (Director) (08 Apr 2005). All things considered [Radio Program] Washington, DC

King, B. B. (2000). Nobody loves me but my mother, MCA Records: disc 1, song 17

Kripal, J. J. (2001) Roads of excess, palaces of wisdom: Eroticism and reflexivity in the study of mysticism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Prine, J. (1993). “Fish and Whistle,” Great Days: The John Prine Anthology. Atlantic Records. Disc 1, track 19

Prine, J. (1993). “Saddle in the Rain,” Great Days: The John Prine Anthology. Atlantic Records. Disc 1, track 17

Skanse, R. (1999). “In Spite of Himself, John Prine Comes Up Grinning.” Rolling Stone retrieved September 2, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/johnprine/articles/story/5927007/in_spite_of_himself_john_prine_comes_up_grinning

Title: John Prine’s Images of God and Male Melancholia: Terror, Forgiveness, and the Persistence of Desire
Author: Philip Browning Helsel
Publication date: 01-09-2007
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Journal of Religion and Health / Issue 3/2007
Print ISSN: 0022-4197
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6571
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-006-9102-1

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John Prine’s Images of God and Male Melancholia: Terror, Forgiveness, and the Persistence of Desire

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