“Realizing you’re not going to see the person again is always the most difficult part about it. But that feeling settles and then you are glad you had that person in your life, and then the happiness and the sadness get all swirled up inside you.” -John Prine
I was on the family couch in my usual spot when I caught news that we lost great American treasure and folk singer John Prine to complications from COVID-19. He was 73 and certainly not ready to go yet, with tour dates lined up for the coming year. His unique talent for storytelling cannot be replaced but will be remembered and shared, certainly in this way we can pay honor to his legacy.
When I think of John Prine, I think of Mike and Maureen Moore— dear family friends and owners of Saddleback Chocolates and Kizmet Chocolates in O’Fallon, IL. I’ve always really loved their personal touch and hand poured, small batch chocolates (yum!!), but recently they’ve used their company as a platform to do something quite amazing. The two took the lyrics of Prine’s 1971 song “Hello in There” to heart and saw it as inspiration to make a difference. Mike, who is a long time fan of Prine’s, felt that the lyrics of the song have a message that is especially relevant in the world today. In this song, Prine reminds us to care about our elders and be there for them when they are alone.
With the COVID-19 outbreak, so many of our elderly population find themselves more isolated than ever. The two used inspiration from the song lyrics to start a project, aptly called The “Hello in There” Project, encouraging folks to send chocolates to those in quarantine, specifically in honor of those in long term care facilities such as assisted living communities, nursing homes, and hospitals who may feel forgotten in these times. The giving doesn’t stop there- the chocolate can then be shared with caretakers and those on the frontlines of the pandemic as well, with a note telling them that they are thought of. Saddleback is selling the specialty chocolates at no profit or markup. You can join the project at saddlebackchocolates.com and spread the love Prine sang about, too.
Many folks have listened to Prine their whole lives. Many others are just now hearing his wisdom and lyricisms for the first time. No matter where you are in life, how old you are, what year it is, his music hits home. Like a good plate of soul food, John Prine’s songs satisfy our most vulnerable parts. Poignant lyrics were often dashed with a touch of good humor or irony. In his lyrics he would often wonder what it’s like to get to heaven, what living a good life is all about, and if lonely souls growing old can find comfort and solace in others. His songs proved that folks deserve to be loved simply because they do.
Prine’s most well-known and talked about song is likely Sam Stone, a deeply personal look at the life of a Vietnam veteran finding themselves unable to carry on with day to day life after returning from war, finding themselves at rock bottom with drugs as their only way to cope with their pain. The late great Johnny Cash once said, “John Prine is 24 and writes songs like he is 240.” He had a special sense of the complexity of the human spirit and how to comfort the aching we all feel in our hearts when things get tough. He always saw the best in us and pulled us along out of the dark. His specialty? Finding a way to make us laugh and smile along with him looking mortality in the eye.
When I was a little girl, I would curl up on the couch, chin tucked under an old family blanket, waiting for my dad to come home from his long day job to play songs for us with his guitar. It was my favorite thing to look forward to. Even now, I can remember the words to nearly all the songs he would play, but it always seemed like the answer to “I really love that song, who’s it by?” happened to be a man named John Prine. There was no mistaking his often humorous, sometimes melancholy, lyric work. I knew the words to a handful of his songs before I knew his name, but when I learned it I never forgot it. All my life he has been “that guy who writes songs so vivid you can picture them word for word” but with his recent passing I decided to learn a little more about the life this funny, frank songwriter lived.
Before John Prine made records, he delivered mail in his hometown of Maywood, IL. He was known rather infamously around town as the “Singing Mailman”. This really seems to be a nod to the notion that if we really love to do something, we’ll find a means to do it one way or another. Singing was in Prine’s bones since the day he was born (October 10, 1946 for those curious.) He soon found himself playing open mic nights on Thursdays at a local spot. From there, all that was left was for his flowery voice and catchy chorus lines to be discovered and his career wrote itself. He gave us over 5 decades of beautiful, one-of-a-kind grassroots folk and the joy of being able to listen to it again and again.
Prine’s music is not only meaningful, but motivating, proven to us with campaigns like The “Hello in There” project. Projects like these carry John’s message of how good it is to be good to others. If you think about some hollow ancient eyes, please don’t just pass em by and stare... send some chocolate to say “hello in there.” It’s a project of compassion that John Prine would surely have been proud of.
