All the original Floodsters had favorite tracks on John Prine’s 1971 self-titled debut album. For Dave Peyton and Charlie Bowen, that fav was “Paradise,” which they performed at the May 1974 Bowen Bash as a duo.
For The Flood’s co-founder Roger Samples, the top track on the Prine debut was its second track, “Spanish Pipedream” (which was forever known in The Floodiverse as “Blow Up Your TV.”) In the video below, from 51 years ago this week, is Rog leading us on that one at the September 1975 bash:
(As reported earlier, that September 1975 bash was also notable as fiddler Joe Dobbs’ introduction to the Flood’s extended family. Click here to read all about that.) And if you’d like to read more about what was happening in those oh-so-early days of Floodishness, click here to see the 1975 pages of the band’s online scrapbook.
About the Song
John Prine wrote “Blow Up Your TV” soon after he started regularly performing. It was 1970 and after a few beers, some friends talked him into getting up at an open-mike night at a Chicago club called The Fifth Peg.
From then on, one gig after another led John down the path of becoming a professional singer-songwriter. “I thought the first song of the show should be up and bouncy,” he said. “I can only play two rhythms — fast and slow — so this was written to go with my fast bouncy rhythm.”
Curiously, the song’s original chorus wasn’t about blowing up anybody’s television set.
“It was something about the girls forgetting to take the pill,” John said, “but sunk pretty low after that first great verse.” He felt it sounded too much like a conventional country tearjerker — “like Loretta Lynn singing about ‘the pill’ — then I got the line ‘blow up your TV.’”
Rocking the TV
John said he used to keep a small bowl of real fine pebbles that he picked up on his route as a mailman in the Chicago suburb of Westchester, “and if somebody said something really stupid on TV I’d throw some at the screen.”
The resulting song — which Prine biographer Eddie Huffman has called “an Age of Aquarius anthem, the hippie commune ideal summed up in less than four minutes” — also had a timely shout-out to the anti-war movement with the line “I was just a soldier on my way to Montreal,” famed for receiving American conscientious objectors during the Vietnam years.
But what about the song’s name? Back in 1976 John Prine was asked why he called it “Spanish Pipedream.” All he’d say was: “I wrote it for a Puerto Rican dishwasher in Chicago ’cause he liked Spanish songs.”
John Denver Covers
Among the many who saw Prine play in the early days at Chicago’s Earl of Old Town music club was John Denver, who opted to record the song under its refrain, “Blow Up Your TV.” Denver’s cover, which came out within a month of Prine’s own debut, was featured on the Aerie album.
It was the first of three Prine songs that Denver recorded. It was followed the next year with “Paradise,” released in the Rocky Mountain High album, and then “Angel from Montgomery” on 1973’s Farewell Andromeda album.
More Floodifying Prine Tunes
John Prine has a beloved corner of The Flood’s repertoire and we were stunned and saddened by his death at the dawn of the Covid epidemic a half dozen years ago.
To honor John’s memory, we produced a “special blend” in the Radio Floodango music steaming service to celebrate his work. Click the graphic below to read all about that.
Celebrating John Prine
Two years ago this week we were stunned and deeply saddened by the death of singer/songwriter John Prine, the first of our heroes and loved ones we’d lose to the horrific COVID-19 pandemic. (Later on we at least smiled a little when we learned that, in accordance with the wishes he expressed in his song "Paradise,” his ashes were indeed spread in Kentuc…
More Rog Samples Tunes
Meanwhile, if this little outing has you wanting more songs featuring our old buddy Roger Samples, Floodango ought be your next stop, where you can click on the free Roger Channel for a randomized playlist of Rog tunes.
Remember, we’ve now got cool ways to mobilize the ol’ Floodango. Click here to find out how to put The Flood’s radio activity on your computer desktop and on an iPhone. That way, your Flood fix will always be just a click away.
