missing John Prine

It's been a long time since I was affected by the death of a singer.songwriter. I am not a groupie. But the death of John Prine has hit me harder than I thought.

My first exposure to John Prine was a long time ago - back in my University days. In a folk music class I was taking (us Science students had to take some Arts courses - it was great), I was introduced to Prine's 1968 "Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore" I'm not sure I know it was by John Prine.

But your flag decal won't get you into Heaven anymore
They're already overcrowded from your dirty little war
Now Jesus don't like killin', no matter what the reason's for
And your flag decal won't get you into Heaven anymore

 Another of his early songs (1971) that is so powerful is "Hello In There".
Such a poignant song. It's hard to believe he wrote this when he was only 25.

you know that old trees just grow stronger
and old rivers grow wider everyday
but old people just grow lonesome
waiting for someone to say hello in there–hello

 

One of Prine's longest songs is Some Humans Ain't Human

A couple of weeks ago, Stephen Colbert shared a duet he sang with John Prine back in 2016: "That's The Way The World Goes 'Round". At the time Colbert said, we save this “In case something terrible happens and we have to cheer up the world”