“I guess if you keep making the same mistakes long enough, it becomes your style.”
- John Prine
John Prine is one of my all-time favorite songwriters. I'm not unique in that regard. He's at the top of a lot of peoples' lists. He wrote poignant lyrics in simple language with subtle humor mixed in. The best ones are timeless, as all great art is.
"Broken hearts and dirty windows
Make life difficult to see"
See what I mean? I've been working on a song that pays homage to him, at least in an oblique way. Trying to write about your heroes is a dicey endeavor. Maybe it will be something I can be satisfied with. Or, maybe it will go into the trash. We'll see.
In it, I don't mention him by name but I do reference his song Lake Marie. It's one of his songs that I love the most. It's also the song that he closed his show with when I saw him in October of 2019. He died the following April due to complications from covid. It's the song that plays in my mind at the memory of him disappearing from the stage
If you're not familiar with Lake Marie, maybe give it a listen. It's more akin to a piece of literature than it is to a traditional lyrical narrative. It's closer to a Raymond Carver short story. If you're a person that needs a linear arc with a tidy ending in your songs, you may find this one a tad perplexing. But, if you're a person who likes things that leave you with more questions than answers, it might be for you.
Birthdays in music: Danny Joe Brown (1951), Lead Singer in Molly Hatchet. Rock on.
Chomh fada, RP