The Lonesome Friends of Science.
Lyrics and Vocals: The late American singer and songwriter of country-folk music John E. Prine (1946–2020)
One of the things that made John Prine such a wonderful songwriter was his ability to take something completely ridiculous and turn it into something funny, thoughtful, and strangely moving.
The song hereunder came about because John was genuinely annoyed when scientists decided that Pluto wasn’t a planet any more. He figured Pluto had been doing a perfectly good job for years, and it seemed a bit unfair to suddenly demote the poor thing.
But underneath the humour, there’s something deeper here about a world that’s always changing, people who think they know everything, and the comfort of having your own little place to escape to.
Only John Prine could bring all that together in one song.
The Lonesome Friends of Science.
The Lonesome Friends of Science.
The lonesome friends of science say,
“The world will end most any day”.
Well, if it does, then that’s okay,
‘Cause I don’t live here anyway.
I live down deep inside my head,
Where long ago I made my bed.
I get my mail in Tennessee,
My wife, my dog, and my family.
Now poor planet Pluto now,
He never stood a chance no how,
When he got uninvited to,
The interplanetary dance.
Once a mighty planet there,
Now just an ordinary star,
Hangin’ out in Hollywood,
In some ol’ funky sushi bar.
The lonesome friends of science say,
“The world will end most any day”.
Well, if it does, then that’s okay,
‘Cause I don’t live here anyway.
I live down deep inside my head,
Where long ago I made my bed.
I get my mail in Tennessee
My wife, my dog, and my kids and me.
The Vulcan lives in Birmingham.
Sometimes he just don’t give a damn.
His head is full of bumblebees,
His pride hangs down below his knees.
Venus left him long ago,
For a guy named Mars from Idaho.
The Vulcan sent a wedding gift,
Three-legged stool and a wheelchair lift.
The lonesome friends of science say,
“This world will end most any day”.
Well, if it does, then that’s okay,
‘Cause I don’t live here anyway.
I live down deep inside my head,
Where long ago I made my bed.
I get my mail in Tennessee
My wife, my dog, my kids and me.
Those bastards in their white lab coats,
Who experiment with mountain goats,
Should leave the universe alone,
It’s not their business, not their home.
I go to sleep and it never rains.
My dog predicts hurricanes,
She can smell a storm a mile away,
That’s all the news we have today.
The lonesome friends of science say,
“The world will end most any day”.
Well, if it does, then that’s okay,
‘Cause I don’t live here anyway.
I live down deep inside my head,
Where long ago I made my bed.
I get my mail in Tennessee,
My wife, my dog, my kids and me.
END.
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