1971 Country Classic, Once Covered by Johnny Cash, Remains One of the Saddest Songs Ever Written

Few songwriters have been able to capture the essence of pure beauty and tragedy quite like the late great John Prine, a woefully underappreciated songwriter whose music rockets right into your heart whenever you hear it for the first time. His words are so inexplicably captivating that it almost suggests that he understood something about the universe the rest of us didn’t. No song exemplifies this quite like “Sam Stone.”

The song comes off of the landmark debut album simply titled “John Prine.” The record features a sound that hasn’t really been replicated anywhere else. It defies easy categorization, as it sits somewhere between a country, folk, and blues record. Regardless, it captures and perfects the blue collar music of America. The album is equal parts heartfelt, humorous, and tragic, with “Sam Stone” being one of the most tragic parts of the record.

The song chronicles a returned veteran (the eponymous Sam Stone) who through struggles with injuries mental and physical succumbs to addiction, and eventually overdoses. The song follows the impact on both his and his family’s lives that the terror of war has wrought. It’s a story that is all too common and all too ignored across the country, and one that has resonated with so many. Bob Dylan once mentioned the song in a 2009 interview where he praised Prine as one of his favorite songwriters, and Johnny Cash performed his own version of the song live once.

The lyrics here are an absolute gut punch. Prine is so good at packing so much emotion into such simple phrases, and this song captures that masterfully. If I had to summarize Prine’s songwriting ability into one lyric, it would be the line that opens the chorus to this song: “There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes.”

The song is full of so many other telling pieces of writing like this that just shatter the heart with the hammer of reality. Prine’s vocals also serve this song excellently, with his gentle rasp sounding almost like your grandfather telling you about the hardest years of his life. He was a songwriter that I revere with so much of my being. He’s somebody who captures some deep essential truth of the universe, and puts it into layman’s terms, which something we could all use from time to time.

Related: 1962 Folk Classic, Written as a Tribute to an Idol, Launched 20-Year-Old Bob Dylan’s Career

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