This John Prine song has been lauded as, “One of the best breakup songs ever written.” Here’s my cover of Prine’s “All The Best.”
Categories
All The Best
Tag: acoustic guitar
“Day Is Done” is a simple song about a clandestine relationship. Since very little has been written about the song, it is difficult to pinpoint its exact meaning. It could be about two married adults having an illicit affair. The lyrics and tone, however, indicate a relationship between two adolescents forbidden by parents or society.
The drawings on the album cover of “Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings,” where the song is one of the tracks, tend to support the theory of a prohibited young love.
In “Day is Done,” Prine has written a charming little song with universal implications. Many of his songs deal with the intricacies of human relationships and are laced with Prine’s subtle sense of humor. Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings was John’s fourteenth album. Released in 1995, it is another example of the artist’s exploration of the human condition.
From humble beginnings, John Prine came a long way in his fifty-year career. He won Grammy Awards and was posthumously inducted into the Country and Folk Music Hall of Fame. What struck me, however, is this early recollection of his career. It is taken directly from Prine’s official website:
“Prine still remembers the first three songs he performed on any stage: Sam Stone, Hello in There, and Paradise. With humility, he recalls, “I sang those three songs and people just sat there and looked at me. I thought, ‘Wow, those are really bad.’ They wouldn’t even applaud.”
Things changed dramatically when a young journalist named Roger Ebert dropped into a Chicago folk club for a beer while John was on stage. Ebert wrote a glowing review of Prine’s performance in the Chicago Sun-Times which essentially launched John’s career.
Here’s my cover of “Day Is Done.”
John Prine began his professional career as a mailman in Illinois. He went on to become one of America’s most beloved singers and songwriters. If you are a fan of Folk and Country Music, then you know John Prine. His music was a blend of humorous lyrics about love, life, current events, and songs recounting melancholy tales from his life. Prine was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death in 2020 from complications of COVID-19.
“I Remember Everything” was the last song John wrote. Published posthumously, it’s a simple yet moving song looking back on a life well-lived.
Prine may have had a premonition that his life was coming to an end. If that is the case, then “I Remember Everything” is John’s epitaph, which he characteristically wrote himself. Here’s my cover.
“Ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.”
These lyrics and the refrain popped into my head a few mornings ago. This sort of thing has been happening to me frequently these days: Long-forgotten songs resurfacing. It may be a function of the aging process, or it might be the universe talking to me. I kind of hope it’s the latter.
In the 1970s, a group called the Bryds covered a few Bob Dylan songs. They made songs like Mr. Tambourine Man and this one popular. The Bryds’ cover of Mr.Tambourine Man went to number one on the US charts, and their cover of My Back Pages went to thirty. I may have never listened to My Back Pages had it not been for The Byrds. By the way, Roger McGuinn and The Byrds are credited with starting the Folk Rock Revolution. And they inspired Bob Dylan to go electric.
In 1964, Dylan released his fourth album, “Another Side of Life.” Around this time, he began to distance himself from his earlier songs. He claimed his earlier work was not about politics. Instead, it was about universal themes and not individual political issues. In “My Back Pages,” Dylan lambasts himself for his authoritarianism and arrogance.
Moving forward, Dylan’s music focused more on individual consciousness and personal freedom. He is remembered more for his music from 1965-1970 than his earlier work.
To me, the lyrics at the top infer that we tend to think we know it all at a young age. I know that I did. As we age, we gain more wisdom and realize that we know less than we thought we did. This understanding opens us to learning more when we admit that we know little in comparison to what is out there. To be open to learning without imposing pre-existing ideas is to become more pliable and, therefore, young.
Here’s my cover of this powerful song.
“Brown-eyed Girl” was originally called “Brown-Skinned Girl.” The song is about an interracial relationship. Morrison changed the name to make it more acceptable to radio stations at the time (1967). Some stations banned it anyway for the line, “Making love in the green grass.” Why some gatekeepers took issue with the line in the free-loving sixties is beyond me. I guess there is no accounting for taste.
From his roots in Northern Ireland, Van Morrison began his musical career at the age of thirteen. He played the saxophone, harmonica, and guitar in several bands until he formed his own group called “Them.”
“Brown-Eyed Girl” launched Morrison’s solo career due to the song’s overwhelming popularity. Ironically, Morrison never truly cared for the song. He considered it “too commercial.” And the psychedelic cover of Morrison’s first solo album appalled him. I think it’s safe to say Van Morrison never came anywhere near the mainstream of music and pop culture.
Most of Morrison’s work consists of rhythm and blues and occasional jazz pieces. The man may be unpredictable, but his songwriting has certainly been prolific. He has written over three hundred songs in his fifty-year career.
Commercial or not, this is a fun song to play. Here’s my cover.
Bob Dylan wrote “When the Ship Comes In” in 1963 and released it on his “The Times They Are A-Changin’ ” album in 1964. Dylan was in an angry mood when he wrote the song after a hotel clerk refused him a room, thinking the artist was a deadbeat. Dylan finally scored a room after Joan Baez verified his good character. The song is violent and vengeful, but it is also hopeful. The song’s lyrics hint at a vision of a better world built on the ideals of an enlightened generation.
Sixty years have passed since the song first appeared. Aside from a more inclusive social fabric and our ever-advancing technology, I wonder if the times have changed that much. Dylan’s words still ring true in a world where:
- The cruel and inhuman war in Ukraine rages on.
- The leading Republican candidate faces numerous indictments for fraud and other misdeeds.
- The US President’s son faces charges of selling access to his father, and the President may be implicated.
- Selfish Aramco raises oil prices despite the devastating effect it will have on the world economy.
- Oil companies make token gestures toward clean energy while sitting on their hands and raking in hundreds of billions in profits from the sale of fossil fuels.
- Billions of people continue to live under dictatorships and go to bed hungry every night.
- The clock is running out on Global Warming.
We need the social conscience and action of a generation of young people like the one we had in the sixties. Instead, we have a malaise of complacency and ignorance today with too few bright spots in between. But it’s not too late. “When the Ship Comes In” came to me in a dream. It came, literally, from out of nowhere. It must have come to me for a reason. Maybe Dylan’s resounding words will spark something in us. Here’s my cover.
When Richard Marx wrote “Right Here Waiting,” he never meant to publish it. He wrote the song in 2010 as a personal message to his girlfriend and actress, Cynthia Rhoads. At the time, Rhoads was in South Africa making a film. Since Skype or Google Meets didn’t exist, Marx shipped the track directly to Rhoads. Marx wrote the song in twenty minutes. His friends were so moved by it that they convinced the artist to publish it. The song went on to become one of Marx’s biggest hits.
Prior to this blog post, I had never heard of Richard Marx. I was only vaguely aware of the song. When I heard the beginning of the song on a Facebook reel, I was inspired to learn it. Now that I’ve read the backstory, I agree with Marx’s friends. “Right Here Waiting” is a truly moving and beautiful ode to long-distance love. Marx plays a piano accompaniment. I’ve composed a guitar background. Here’s my cover.
Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young wrote: “Teach Your Children.” The song appears on the group’s album, Deja Vue. The lyrics pertain to the difficult relationship Nash had with his father, who spent time in prison. Nash has talked about songwriting in these terms: “The idea is that you write something so personal that every single person on the planet can relate to it. Once it’s there, it unfolds outward, so that it applies to almost any situation.”
In another quote, Nash says, “When I wrote ‘Teach Your Children,’ we didn’t know what we were doing. It was like: ‘This sounds pretty fun. We can sing this! Let’s do it!’ And then, all of a sudden, people are singing it back to me forty years later.”
Graham Nash is a photographer as well as a great musician and songwriter. Soon after writing “Teach Your Children,” Nash visited an art gallery and saw two photographs hung side by side. The photographs clarified the meaning of the song for Nash. One photo, by Diane Arbus, is titled “Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park.” The other is Arnold Newman’s portrait of German industrialist Alfried Krupp, the man who manufactured arms for World Wars I and II.
In a Songfacts interview, Nash told this story about the two photos: “I have never told any gallery owner how to hang my images. They know their space way better than me, and I’m always curious as to how they put images together. And in this particular show, the gallery put these two photos together. The photos made me realize that if we didn’t teach our children a better way of dealing with our fellow human beings, we were fucked. Humanity was in great danger.”
Now, this is me talking. I often feel that art comes from somewhere else. Let’s call it “The Great Beyond.” To me, a serious artist is a channeler of messages from The Beyond through the prism of his or her experiences and personality. These messages want to come through and be heard by a large audience. “Teach Your Children” is a good illustration of this idea. Here’s my cover.
Like many of us, Don McLean suffered through difficult passages in his life, many of which are reflected in his music. He wrote and recorded “Empty Chairs” when his marriage was failing. Despite the subject of lost love, I feel there is incredible beauty in the lyrics and the melody, and Mclean’s unique guitar style.
Although the subject is mentioned just once in the song, McLean chose the symbol to sum up his feelings and state of mind at the time. The title is inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings of empty chairs. Mclean sympathized with Van Gogh and admired his paintings as revealed in his song “Vincent” recorded on the same album: “American Pie.”
I’ve re-recorded “Empty Chairs” with a better guitar and some improved technique. Please enjoy listening.
“The time that’s left is yours to keep.” These words come at the end of the chorus of the song “See Here She Says” by Kate Wolf.
While I find all of the lyrics in this song beautiful, this sentence hit me in the center of my heart. I can picture a mother teaching a child about life. She is telling the child about the importance of dreams and to use his or her time wisely. Use it well, not only for yourself but for others.
Certainly, love, beauty, and a full range of human emotions come through Kate Wolf’s music. “See Here She Says” is a remarkable song because it speaks to children and adults alike with an ocean of love and understanding. Interestingly, the word “sea” appears at the beginning of the first verse.
Perhaps I can feel Kate’s heart even more now that she has passed into spirit.
Please enjoy my cover of “See Here She Said.”
Heart Banter by David Gittlin 