Prisoners

Bring me and the other boys home

Hi all,

Thank you for joining me for this week’s song, “Prisoners”, by John Denver. If you’d like to hear the song before you read the background, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article.

Below, you’ll find my interpretation of the lyrics (written in italics). Comments and questions are welcome. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below. TOEFL (PBT) 450+, Eiken 2, CEFR B1.

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(422 words)

John Denver was an American singer/songwriter in the 1960s and 1970s. He was quiet and gentle man who respected the environment and worked for peace and justice long before it became “cool” for entertainers to do so. He wrote this song, Prisoners, during the Vietnam War (1955-1975). It is a song told from two perspectives, a woman at home and a soldier who is in a foreign country being held as a prisoner of war.

When the song begins, we see a young woman working at “the five and dime”. This was a store that sold goods at low prices, usually for five or ten cents. The five and dime was very popular in the 1900s because of the variety of things that were sold there. These stores sometimes had a lunch counter where people could order soup and a sandwich or the “daily special” which might be a meat dish with mashed potatoes and vegetables. Here, Josie, the young woman, is the person serving from behind the counter.

Josie works the counter at the downtown five and dime

Anything at all to help her pass the time

We learn that Josie lives with her mother and grandfather and that she has a baby.

Her mama keeps the baby and grandpa rambles on

About the good times playing in his mind

[Chorus]

It's a hard life livin' when you're lonely

It's a long night sleepin' alone

It's a hard time waitin' for tomorrow

It's a long, long way home

In the next verse, we get the feeling that Josie is doing things to make time pass. Nothing is really important. Her life seems dull and without meaning. For example, it is hard for her to write a letter because there is no “news” to write about.

Josie spends the evening with the people on the pages

Of the paperback she picked up at the store

Or sometimes it's the TV, or she'll try to write a letter

Oh, but they don't come too often anymore

U.S. soldiers in Vietnam (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

The song continues from the viewpoint of the soldier who is in a prison.

I stare at the gray walls before me

And I see her face in the stone

I try to imagine our baby

I wish they would let me go home

We assume that the baby is Josie’s baby and that Josie is the soldier’s wife who is waiting for him at home.

It's a long, long way home

Bring me and the other boys home

Bring me and the other boys home

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Question

The soldier says, “Bring me and the other boys home.” Who do you think he is saying this to?

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Vocabulary

entertainer 芸能人

perspective 視点

prisoner 囚人

ramble on about についてとりとめのない話

Karaoke version:

SOURCES

Patterson, J. (2022, October 12). 25 years after his death, John Denver leaves a far out legacy. The Bluegrass Situation. https://thebluegrasssituation.com/read/25-years-after-his-death-john-denver-leaves-a-far-out-legacy/. Accessed 28 January 2024.