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Bruised Orange (Chain Of Sorrows) Lyrics
My heart's in the ice house come hill or come valley
Like a long ago Sunday when I walked through the alley
On a cold winter's morning to a church house
just to shovel some snow.
I heard sirens on the train track howl naked gettin' nuder,
An altar boy's been hit by a local commuter
just from walking with his back turned
to the train that was coming so slow.
You can gaze out the window get mad and get madder,
throw your hands in the air, say "What does it matter?"
but 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 become your own prisoner as you watch yourself sit there
wrapped up in a trap of your very own
chain of sorrow.
I been brought down to zero, pulled out and put back there.
I sat on a park bench, kissed the girl with the black hair
and my head shouted down to my heart
"You better look out below!"
Hey, it ain't such a long drop don't stammer don't stutter
from the diamonds in the sidewalk to the dirt in the gutter
and you carry those bruises to remind you wherever you go.
Like a long ago Sunday when I walked through the alley
On a cold winter's morning to a church house
just to shovel some snow.
An altar boy's been hit by a local commuter
just from walking with his back turned
to the train that was coming so slow.
throw your hands in the air, say "What does it matter?"
but it don't do no good to get angry,
so help me I know
You become your own prisoner as you watch yourself sit there
wrapped up in a trap of your very own
chain of sorrow.
I sat on a park bench, kissed the girl with the black hair
and my head shouted down to my heart
"You better look out below!"
Hey, it ain't such a long drop don't stammer don't stutter
from the diamonds in the sidewalk to the dirt in the gutter
and you carry those bruises to remind you wherever you go.
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At the end of this video, Todd Snider relays what Prine told him about writing Bruised Orange. Prine was walking to a church to shovel the snow off the steps as was his job on a Sunday morning and heard sirens whaling and went over to investigate and found out an altar boy at the Catholic church, who was also walking to church that morning, was hit by a commuter train. John felt something in his heart at that moment but didn't know what he was feeling. Then years later as an adult he had his heartbroken and realized that's what he had felt when he learned of the altar boy's accident. Beyond belief sh*t from Prine on this one, that's for sure. So that's how the "look out below, heart" line fits in with the altar boy story part of the song.
https://youtu.be/t6dmqrdmB-k?si=3ZQ_7wjNMLuMWRVl
John Prine explains the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFD2wZaBciY
More than that, though, this song changed my life. I was consumed with anger over a situation in my life, & this song appeared - I stumbled onto John Prine - & it told me what would come. I saw myself indeed growing weak & bitter, becoming my own prisoner. It was a strange & coincidental alarm warning me that I was going to be trapped in a chain of sorrow.
It saved me. As music always has.
What the neck does howl naked get neuter mean?
@plato1234 It's "howl naked, getting nuder", as in "more naked." In my opinion, the sirens were loud and getting louder--"naked" implying stark, harsh, unadorned.
@plato1234 It's "howl naked, getting nuder", as in "more naked." In my opinion, the sirens were loud and getting louder--"naked" implying stark, harsh, unadorned.
The verses are examples of the wisdom in the chorus (which he wrote first). In the 1st verse, he states his heart is in the icebox--cold, angry--whether he's up or down, just like it was on that long-ago Sunday. The 2nd verse suggests the risk we take when we surrender our hearts and reminds us that it's not a long drop from the hills to the valleys, and that we carry the wounds of the bad experiences as reminders.