Comments on: Angel From Montgomery

By: Erik R.

Erik R. — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:11:10 +0000

Excellent comment, Scootmandubious! I, too, had noticed that difference. I prefer the original version, but for a slightly different reason.

We naturally associate the nouns lightning and thunder with the adjectives bright and loud respectively. Desire could be either bright or loud, but it doesn’t make sense to me for dreams to be loud. The only adjective that fits with dreams, in my mind, is bright.

And because of the order they are usually experienced, as you mentioned, it just makes better poetry if they appear in that order in the sentence.

Thanks again for your thought dump.

By: Scootmandubious

Scootmandubious — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:05:28 +0000

I have been trying to find out why only John Prine’s original version says “if dreams were lightning, thunder was desire”….and all the covers go “if dreams were thunder, lightning was desire.”

I think Bonnie Raitt made the original error, but figure that because it was so much more popular than the original it stuck.

It does change the meaning slightly. In Prine’s version, since thunder is the after-effect of lightning, Dreams give way to desire. In the Raitt version desire gives way to dreams.

Anyway, these are the thoughts that I chose to dump on the internet this evening. I haven;t seen it addressed.

By: jane

jane — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 22:45:14 +0000

I adore this song, and John Prine, as well. Thanks for this.

By: Pistol Pete

Pistol Pete — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 13:15:45 +0000

Prine is an amazing singer/songwriter. I’ve reflected on his music in 13 posts on my blog (just today doing a “retrospective”). I’ve seen him in concert 6 times. He’s coming to Carnegie Hall (just a 1 hour train ride away) this coming Jan. 5, but I just can’t make it. Anyway, thanks for drawing attention to our generation’s top folk theologian.