The three songwriters who inspired John Prine to greatness
There are a few songwriters in the world that impress every contemporary. The kind of wordsmiths and musical maestros who are able to captivate every member of the audience, entrance them with a sirenic tune capable of rising and falling like a great novel and leave those listeners nourished and warm in the glow that only truly great art can provide. One such man able to provide these transcendent moments was the magnificent John Prine.
Once selected as one of Bob Dylan’s favourite songwriters, when the freewheelin’ troubadour named him “pure Proustian existentialism”, Prine’s work has reached across the airwaves to connect with people beyond the realm of music too.
Bill Murray once credited Prine’s work as contributing to saving his life, while steemed film critic Roger Ebert, who is hailed as the one who first discovered him, noted: “He appears on stage with such modesty he almost seems to be backing into the spotlight. He sings rather quietly, and his guitar work is good, but he doesn’t show off. He starts slow. But after a song or two, even the drunks in the room begin to listen to his lyrics. And then he has you.”
Prine, whose work is perhaps typified in the songs, ‘That’s The Way The World Goes Round’, ‘Sweet Revenge’, ‘Souvenirs’ and ‘When I Get To Heaven’ sadly passed away in 2020 after complications from contracting Covid-19. He left his mortal coil with the recognition and regard that his otherworldly talent deserved. A humble and quiet man, Prine was not often caught in the spotlight of TV cameras, however, on one occasion, the songwriter noted three musicians who changed his life.
During a conversation in 1992 with Dan Miller, Prine opined about his love of three brilliant musicians, the first of which he confirmed he had memorised an entire album of, front to back. It was a Hank Williams Snr’s live record, which Prine knew like the back of his hand, even the banter between songs: “It was a radio show that I guess they put it out as an album, […] I would sit around with my guitar and sing the whole album for my father, including the stuff in between. If the needle would have jumped, I’d have memorised that too.”
Prine then picks out Williams as a major influence on his career and songwriting. “My songwriting was heavily influenced by Hank Williams, Bob Dylan and Roger Miller,” confirms Prine when asked who had informed his presence in the music industry.
Hank Williams was an icon of America, penning a soulful country sound that is easy to see in Prine’s work. So too, Bob Dylan, who in the 1960s, as Prine began to write music in earnest, was inarguably the voice of a generation, delivering a ream of heartfelt folk poetry and then a crash of rock and roll. Roger Miller is also a clear pillar of inspiration for Prine and, especially, his somewhat strange lyricism.
About Miller, Prine says: “He’d take words anywhere. He’d just take them anywhere he’d been and shape them any way he wanted them to get to the end result and I thought that was just great.”
Below see the John Prine take on a classic song from Hank Williams, ‘Just Waitin’.
