No singer/songwriter can make you cry and laugh in equal doses like @JohnPrineMusic. Seems like people fall into two groups: Those who revere him, and those that don't know much about him. Let's help. Start with this crusher from last year.

That lyric -- "Well you never know how far from home you're feeling, Until you've watched the shadows cross the ceiling" -- is one I will never forget. Perfect.
Multiply that by 50 years and you get Prine's catalog.
Go to Spotify, get lost for a few hours, and come back here.

Here's one everyone knows. Angel from Montgomery was on Prine's incredible debut album in 1971. John Denver covered it in 1973. Bonnie Raitt made it a hit, part of the American songbook, in 1974.

Prine is revered in country/folk/rock circles, but he's had few big hits. Some of his best known are cheery and cheeky, like In Spite of Ourselves, with @irisdement. Who else writes, "Caught him once and he was sniffin' my undies?"

Back to that first album. It's fearless, like all his work. It features a song called Paradise, about a hometown undone by strip mining. "Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away."

It also has a song called Hello in There, about aging. If you can listen to it without crying, you're stronger than I am.
"Old people just grow lonesome, waiting for someone to say, Hello in there, hello."

Prine suffers no fools but he writes about them. His last album has a song called Caravan of Fools. (Guess what it's about?) Check out 2005's Some Humans Ain't Human. Or 2000's People Puttin' People Down. All feel timely.

Sam Stone is about a returning veteran.
"But life had lost its fun
And there was nothing to be done
But trade his house that he bought on the G. I. Bill
For a flag draped casket on a local heroes' hill."
Goodness.

I could go on, and I have. But listen to the debut album, and then the latest album, Tree of Life, and I bet you'll start leafing through all the songs between those bookends. Find Bruised Orange, Souvenirs, Storm Windows, That's the Way the World Goes 'Round, Lake Marie.

Here's hoping he pulls through. Until then, it's going to be a Long Monday.
Sittin' all alone on a mountain
By a river that has no end
Gonna be a long Monday
Stuck like the tick of a clock
That's come unwound - again.

I started this a week ago, highlighting a song or lyric of @JohnPrineMusic each day until we hear he has recovered from coronavirus. No stopping now. Hoping, as he said,
"Storms never last, do they baby?
Bad times all pass with the wind"

Day ends, appropriately, with more John Prine:
"But your flag decal won't get you
Into heaven anymore,
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin',
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into heaven anymore."

Tuesday's Prine wisdom:
The lonesome friends of science say
The world will end most any day
Well, if it does, then that's okay
'Cause I don't live here anyway
I live down deep inside my head
Where long ago I made my bed
I get my mail in Tennessee
My wife, my dog and my family

Wednesday's John Prine wisdom. We’ll do this every day until we hear he’s better. For those stuck seeing life through their Storm Windows:

Thursday's John Prine wisdom, from Caravan of Fools:

The dark and distant drumming
The pounding of the hooves
The silence of everything that moves
Late at night you'll see them
Decked out in shiny jewels
The coming of the caravan of fools

Friday's John Prine wisdom. As he fights coronavirus in ICU, we should be singing it back to him:

Ya' know that old trees just grow stronger
And old rivers grow wilder every day
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say,
'Hello in there...Hello'

Saturday’s John Prine wisdom: Some Humans Ain’t Human, from 2005.

Sunday’s wisdom from John Prine, the great American songwriter, hospitalized with coronavirus — a deep cut on this rainy day in California. Blue Umbrella:

Another Long Monday's wisdom from John Prine:
"And I smiled on the Wabash
The last time I passed it,
Yes I gave her a wink
From the passenger side.
And my foot fell asleep
As I swallowed my candy,
Knowing he was in heaven
Before he died."

And on Tuesday, @JohnPrineMusic died. His music and lyrics will live on for generations, in my family and many more. Again, the NYT obituary: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/arts/music/john-prine-dead.html