Warren Crane
John Prine looked about, realizes he’s may be at
the Pearly Gates, gets suspicious and thinks, okay, guess I’ll wait and see
what happens, could be a big mistake.
There’s an old bearded guy sitting over by a garden brook
that has water magically flowing and then disappearing, kind of a neat trick.
The old man’s voice appears in his head beckoning him to float on over and
commune.
The communing is effortless, just happens without
pretense.
The old man, maybe Saint Peter begins with, “We don’t
usually get your kind here.”
John gets nervous, it had occurred to him this is
a mistake or he may not be where he thinks he is. The safest answer “My
kind?” was immediately delivered.
The old guy, “You know, musicians.” Sensing John’s
confusion the old man elaborated, “your kind, musicians tend to lead
confused lives, stay up late, get up late, smoke weeds, drink spirits, have
clumsy sex, neglect responsibility, sketchy behavior. Not the traits we
condone.”
John was afraid to ask, “well then why am I here,” but it
was too late, the old man already knew what he was thinking.
“Remember John, when you’d get those letters from
school teachers, librarians and concerned mothers asking why you didn’t
use correct grammar in writing lyrics and how you always answered using
compassion and patience.
John asked without having to, “What do you mean?”
The old man, “You got the most letters about your opening
lines from your “Hello in There” song, you sang, “We had an apartment in the
city, me and Loretta liked living there.” They were asking why didn’t you
set a good example and instead write “Loretta and I liked living there?” You
always took the time to politely explain “you meant no harm, it was for the
singing, me and Loretta just sang better and was more like people talked.”
John wondered, “that’s what got me here, that’s all it
took?” This thought too was instantly communicated and John thought, “I got to
stop that.” Immediately recognizing he had done it again, it was futile.
The old man continued, “We first took notice with your
Hello in There song written so sympathetically from the point of view of a
lonely old couple buts there’s more, then you wrote and sang a song “I am an
Old Woman, Take After My Mother” from a women’s point of view, plus you put an
Angel in the song, that was refreshing. We’re fond of angels around here. And
we’re fond of you, John, welcome. Lots of music here, and yes, your kind of
music, too."