I miss John Prine
 

And his next best album, and his next and his next and his next after that.

I do too.

Never be anyone to take his place,one of a kind!

I liked most of his music. There is a video out there of him with Iris DeMent doing "In Spite of Ourselves" that I could watch over and over. They go great together.

I have mixed feelings about, "Hello in There," which depicts the elderly as pathetic, lonely nobodies.
It's a sweet, poignant melody, but "old folks" don't, "Just grow lonesome waiting for someone to say, 'Hello in there.'" I'm 73 and I feel a little insulted by that lyric. I'm not that pathetic, and if someone came up to me and said, "Hello in There" I'd probably punch them.

Our perspectives on that song are different. I do not think it is a particularly sad song and (in my view) definitely not derisive. Want to have an interesting conversation? Go find an old guy, greeting at Wal-Mart or emptying trash cans at a mall food court, and ask them about their life and loves. I think Hello In There highlights the content in those minds waiting, in relative solitude compared to highly active young lifestyles, to be explored. It is regarded as a masterpiece song.

Everybody does, even the ones that don't know it yet

Thankfully he left a legacy of great music.

(Regarding his first album - How was someone that young so acutely aware of the human condition? It boggles the mind.)

I volunteer as a musician at the care home where my MIL lives. Many folks there are unable to communicate much, but every one of them has a story. Many have no visitors. I try to reach out with music and am sometimes surprised by their requests or reactions to songs. My wife reads short stories weekly to a group and sometimes their stories take up most of the time.
I think of "Hello In There " every time I walk in the door.

Best
Les

Really the only celebrity death i took personally.

Still in constant rotation, his more somber songs are now a few percent sadder

Gonna be a long Monday
Sittin' all alone on a mountain
By a river that has no end
Gonna be a long Monday
Stuck like the tick of a clock
That's come unwound again

My wife volunteers and the local council on aging dance every Thursday. The same 3 piece band plays 50s and 60s music at every dance. They play for 5 to 8 PM for $25 each. I show up at 7:30 to help clean up, and I've been adopted the official photographer for the outfit. I photograph the prom, Valentine's Day dance, and other special dances.
After two years she is backing off the dances because she has gotten more personal with some of the folks she's met and puts more time into helping them. She is an ad hoc "medical advocate" and personal driver for 3 people now. She drives them to appointments and sits with them in the doctor's office. She makes sure they understand what the doc told them, makes sure they get their meds, and makes sure they take them properly. She also has regular phone calls with a guy who is in his late 80s. He lives lives alone and likes talking to her, but I think she's just keeping track of him and making sure he's OK. Sometimes he'll ask to speak to me. We BS for a little while but he eventually gets around to asking if it's OK that he talks to my wife. :cool:
We are two very different people. My wife loves the "old folks" but I just see what I hate about myself in them.

Yeah, I never really cared much about celebrities, but this one hit like a semi. I saw him on the Treeof Forgiveness tour shorty before he passed. The best part of that concert is he appeared content and happy.

And I guess I never really thought of him as a celebrity. I have to admit that when he died he has known around the world, but I’m not sure he ever got any radio airplay. For me knowledge of the man and his music was all word-of-mouth. And when you met another fan, it was instant bonding.

I took in a half dozen of his concerts, he always looked happy, humble, and contented.

He was unique in what he did and how he did it. He was a gift for all of us.

I was all set to see him live when he passed. I came late to appreciating his music. Hello in there makes total sense when I visit my Mom at the Memory Care place. There are folks in there with no voice and no family. John's telling you to stop and spend a moment connecting with them.

I saw John and Bonnie Raitt at the Balboa Bowl in San Diego in 1990 or 91 great show.

His lyrics run through my mind at least a couple times a week...
He could be very funny and serious at the same time

When I'm doing woodwork:
OOOOOOh, Grampa was a carpenter, built houses, stores and banks.
Chain smoked Camel cigarettes and hammered nails in planks-

At odd times tunes like:
Woke up this morning, put on my slippers, walked in the kitchen and died
But Oh what a feeling when my soul rose through the ceiling
On up to heaven I did ride

It was Christmas in prison
And the food was real good
We had turkey and pistols
Carved out of wood
And I dream of her always
Even when I don't dream
Her name's on my tongue
And her blood's in my stream

Wait awhile eternity
Old mother nature's got nothing on me
Come to me
Run to me
Come to me, now
We're rolling
My sweetheart
We're flowing
By God

He has had a huge impact on so many- and yes, many of his songs hit me deeper emotionally since his passing...

Thanks John!

Self titled John Prine and The Freewheelin Bob dylan are two albums that I still have trouble understanding how they were written by near kids.

Your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore, makes me laugh and cry at the same time in under 3 min. There isnt a song on the album short of exceptional

Yeah, he was sure ahead of the game/prophetic when he suggested we’d all be better off if we blew up our TV’s. He was 25 when he wrote Spanish Pipedream, and decades before 24/7 cable news, Kardashians etc.

I miss the hell out of him.