John Prine: C or D? (plus RFI: new album)

I tried to write an essay about Lake Marie once and failed, but here is a paragraph from somewhere toward the end:

This is not a linear narrative, or really a narrative at all. It’s more about the impossibility of making a single story out of the strange constellation of events and memories and song lyrics and half-forgotten stories that make up the defining moments of our lives. Things crash into each other that don’t really belong together; other people’s troubles intersect with our own, and once these things are in our lives, we can never disentangle them. Lake Marie and its apocryphal history, the shadowy, mutilated images on the TV screen, even the lyrics of “Louie Louie” are now inextricably linked, all part of that final irreversible moment when the narrator realizes his marriage can’t be saved. “All the love we shared, between her and me, was slammed, SLAMMED up against the banks of old Lake Marie. MARIE!” We have one last chorus, one last lament for those long-ago peaceful waters, and then – “Oh, baby. We gotta go now.”

It’s more about the impossibility of making a single story out of the strange constellation of events and memories and song lyrics and half-forgotten stories that make up the defining moments of our lives.

otm!

It's an amazing song. The Live On Tour version is far and away my favorite; sometimes I'll listen to it 3 or 4 times in a row. I heard it first and was blown away, never could appreciate the fussier album take.

wow this is an amazing song!

reminds me a bit of dylan's brownsville girl

You know what blood looks like in a black and white video?

Stadows

had never heard this song before (!). thank you. after it finished, spotify served up the neko case version of “buckets of rain”, unsettlingly.

Agree about Brownsville Girl; I've always sort of connected the two in my mind.

"Something about you, I can't quite, put my finger ON!" sung triumphantly, several years after being bummed out by fragmented remainz of "Visions of Johanna" (which sucked for him, was cool for us, but good to see him finally get it in that moment of Planet Waves.)

I mean, what are the fucking odds? So many coincidences.

Has anyone heard any of his son Tommy's debut album? Me neither, until last night.
He was playing at the venue attached to my workplace and I popped back there to check it out for a few minutes. As I walked in, he had just started a song and it was very clearly about his dad. He's touring with just one other guy, one electric and one acoustic guitar. I stayed and listened to the whole thing, cried silently throughout because tomorrow I go to my hometown for my own dad's funeral. It was like the song unlocked my feelings to the point where i could feel them. I identified with so many of the lyrics, but mostly the line "by the way people say I look just like you" because it's the thing I am most dreading hearing over and over and over again at the service.

As I left out the back, I saw him and told him about this unusual coincidence (I am leaving some stuff out about my own parentage but IYKYK) and thanked him for helping me find my feelings. He was super kind and I encourage anyone to listen to this song bc in addition to giving me an emotionally moving coincidence, it's a really great song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9E2HoploEk

Wow. Thanks so much for all of that, LL.

What Isbell wrote about xpost John and Amanda reminds me of that late duets album where most of the guests took off and left him, showboating like mad, though he sounded like dgaf/what he told the doctor who cautioned him that treatment might affect his singing ability, oh noes. Shires was the one who stuck around and drew him out, for witty musical conversation.

Also, I finally heard Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows: The Songs of John Prine (Vol.2), from 2021, hope Vol. 1 is as satisfying. A reviewer said having Raitt do Angel From Montgomery here was way too obvious a choice, but, you know--

http://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l0DuAqH3h6tbJjEscckSojWUe5aZ-vvYo

A friend sent this from Proviso East HS in Maywood, IL

https://i.imgur.com/L0BctvG.jpg

awwwww <3

<3

This week's Austin City Limits episode:

The ninth annual Austin City Limits Hall of Fame honors late singer/songwriter John Prine. Actor Ethan Hawke inducts the beloved icon joined by performers Tyler Childers, Allison Russell, Nathaniel Rateliff, Valerie June, Kurt Vile and Tommy Prine.