This evening NPR happened to be airing a Prairie Home Companion rerun with John Prine as a guest while I was fixing dinner. John Prine sang "Grandpa Was a Carpenter" and another song. Afterward Garrison Keillor did a little fact-check. Was Grandpa really a carpenter? Yes, he was. Chain-smoked Camel cigaretters? Prine responded that when he debuted the song for his family, his mother's sister pointed out to him, Johnny, it was Kools. Prine explained that he needed a cigarette with two syllables. Seems to me a defensible case of poetic license.
Tonight I listened to a little John Prine for the first time in a while and came across this performance by him and Iris DeMent. Hope you enjoy it as I did.
John Prine and Iris DeMent – "In Spite of Ourselves"