DESCRIPTION:
SAM STONE - John Prine - Sessions at West 54th Street

Sam Stone came home
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas.
And the time that he served
Had shattered all his nerves
And left a little shrapnel in his knee.

But the morphine eased the pain
And the grass grew round his brain
And gave him all the confidence he lacked
With a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back.

There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes.
Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears,
Don't stop to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
Uh Hmm...Uh Humm...

Sam Stone's welcome home
Didn't last too long.
He went to work when he'd spent his last dime
And Sammy took to stealing
When he got that empty feeling
For a hundred dollar habit without overtime.

And the gold rolled through his veins
Like a thousand railroad trains
And eased his mind in the hours that he chose
While the kids ran around wearin' other peoples' clothes

There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes,
And Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears,
Don't stop to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
Uh Hmm...Uh Humm...

Sam Stone was alone
When he popped his last balloon,
Climbing walls while sitting in a chair.
Well, he played his last request
While the room smelled just like death

With an overdose hovering in the air.
But life had lost its fun
And there was nothing to be done
But trade his house that he bought on the G. I. Bill
For a flag draped casket on a local heroes' hill.

There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes.
Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears,
Don't stop to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
Uh Hmm...Uh Humm...

NOTE: LITTLE PICTURES HAVE BIG EARS:

"Little pitchers have big ears" is a proverb. The phrase depicts a child as the pitcher with ears hearing what people around them say or do, which is stored inside. The adults are also cautioned that the children might not be as naïve as they perceive them to be." -- Wikipedia.com

"Children hear and understand more than you think they do. The play here is on the resemblance of the ear to the handle of a pitcher. It is an ancient saying, having been recorded by John Heywood in 1546: 'Auoyd your children, smal pitchers haue wide eares.' From The Dictionary of Cliches by James Rogers (Ballantine Books, New York, 1985). Answerbag.com

"Adults must be careful about what they say within the hearing of children. The saying refers to the large handles (ears) sometimes attached to small vessels." -- Dictionary.com