Thursday July 6th
Weather muses… This morning it is really cloudy. Though the temperature, the humidity, and the dew point are all about the same as they have been.. there is a slight downward trend.
The rain showers that have been in the area for the past few days have had a habit of forming just to the north of us and moving north. And when I say just to the north of us, I am talking about a mile or two north of my house. Even so, we have managed to get a couple of lite showers. But our precipitation total has been less than a half inch.
Yesterday afternoon I was sitting at the computer when “Hello In There” popped up being sung by Emmylou Harris. It caught my attention.. but the tempo was off.. the phrasing wasn’t the way my mind said it should be.. So I listened to a version by Joan Baez but that didn’t tweak the brain cells. Then I tried a version by Bette Midler… closer. Then it was John Prine the songs writer and my brain was happy.
Ya' know that old trees just grow strongerJohn Prine
And old rivers grow wilder ev'ry day
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, "Hello in there, hello"
John Prine painted songs with splintered brushstrokes. His songwriting poignancy, draped around a reedy, unmistakable timbre, was a natural, God-given gift. His style was often humor-laced, other times more plainspoken and directed at the everyman. His talents are best explored with such songs as “Hello in There,” off his 1971 self-titled debut, a stark examination of age, enduring love, and time’s merciless hand.
I listened to a few itenerations of the song across John’s career… And this version from later in his career just sounded to me more appropriate for the emotional nature of the story being told. I almost can’t believe he could come up with this at the age of 22… It just bogles my mind.
