Tom Dunne: Take a break from this world with the wonderful music of John Prine
John Prine in concert in Killarney in 2007. Picture: Maurice O'Mahony
Big week for anyone contemplating just lying down in a darkened room as a way of dealing with modern times. In a “world gone mad” it isn’t the worst idea ever but, before you pull the blinds, I may have a solution. It involves John Prine, and it works.
But briefly back to the world gone mad. I only watched two episodes of on Netflix and, outstanding soundtrack aside, it has been haunting my waking hours. As the details of it fade in memory I am recalling it increasingly it as a kind of Zombie Apocalypse offering.
Except in this Apocalypse the Zombies are pint-drinking, crazed leprechauns, dressed lavishly in green velvet and intent on wreaking havoc. And you can’t kill them! The main baddie, Rafferty, tries beating them on the head with assorted barrel making tools, but all to no avail. It is scary.
But not as scary as Tilly Norwood. Tilly is an AI-generated actress. There is footage of her on the red couch (alone mind you) on the Graham Norton Show. She is 100% AI, but she is indistinguishable from everyone else, the humans, you might see on the same couch. I found myself showing the footage to passing strangers.
“Surely this is End of Days,” they all said.
It was against this backdrop of Tilly Norwood and the Leprechaun Apocalypse that I told my wife I was “gone on up” yesterday.
“But it’s only ten past three in the afternoon,” she pointed out helpfully. I was going to add “Resistance is futile”, but just as I was pulling the blinds the postman called.
It was my vinyl copy of the re-issued 30th anniversary edition of John Prine’s “Bed can wait,” I decided. Best decision this MUFC fan has made since cancelling Sky Sports. Two-colour vinyl, a custom designed checkerboard set, what was not to like?
I had kind of missed Prine first time around. In 1995 when he was releasing this, I was steadfastly in a world populated by Radiohead, Massive Attack, Pulp and REM. Over the years people have pointed this loss out to me. And the loss was all mine.
Since then and in light of his tragic covid 19-related death in April 2020 I have picked up on bits of the Prine universe, but with 12 studio albums, five live albums and three major compilations I was waiting for an album I could sink my teeth into from beginning to end. This is that album.
It is an unalloyed joy. From the optimism of (“you’ll be leaving on a new train, far away from this world of pain”) to the wise advice of (essentially, keep your head down and count your blessings) to Bob Dylan’s favourite Prine song, it is an album suffuse with the joy of love and life.
It was the follow up to 1992’s Grammy Award-winning Produced by Howie Epstein from Tom Petty fame it pitches Prine’s masterful world of heartfelt ballads, surreal narratives and playful humour against star turns from Marianne Faithful and Carlene Carter.
is a standout. Six minutes of spell binding storytelling that interweaves three narratives: the story of the naming of the lake, a failing marriage and a grisly murder. For many it is John Prine in a nutshell, moving, funny, surreal and utterly engaging.
I could give you more facts and figures and background on the album but, honestly, you will have more fun simply getting the album and discovering all that yourself. Because that is what I found was the real gift of this album.
It is like a little time capsule of love from another era. An era where AI actresses and feral Zombie Leprechauns were wildly beyond our comprehension. I’m not saying 1995 was benign, but comparatively speaking, it now looks utopian.
It is a time capsule from an artist at the heights of his powers, filled with the joy of new love, fatherhood and creativity. Perhaps I missed Prine in 1995 for a good reason. Perhaps I need his humorous take on love, life and current events much more now than I did then.
At this remove his music feels like an antidote to everything. I have resolved to take this album twice a day with meals. It is a joyous escape. You should join me.
