What I Learned Yesterday During Panicdemic(tm) #20 (from 8 April 2020)

The Saturday Morning Serial...

What I Learned Yesterday During Panicdemic(tm) #20

Why does every news story on John Prine's passing have to mention that he was a favorite of Bob Dylan's? Prine stands alone; he doesn't need the added Dylan stamp, that doesn't elevate the man, it diminishes him. It assumes folks won't know him, but they'll know Dylan. Prine wrote Angel From Montgomery, Sam Stone, Hello In There, Illegal Smile, and hundreds of other brilliant songs. He's a lifetime achievement Grammy winner, he doesn't need that clickbait, fame-driven, idiot consumer sheep People magazine BS! It's like saying, after Louis Armstrong died, that he was Bing Crosby's favorite. He was, but he was also frickin' LOUIS ARMSTRONG! And Prine, like Phil Ochs, needs no approval from Bob; he's got his own light, thank you very much.

We also lost the visionary producer Hal Willner this week. I met up with Hal a few times before moving to Scotland. He wanted to produce an album of folks covering my songs. And if you know Hal, then you know as a songwriter, I very much wanted to hear those folks' interpretations of my work under his production. It all broke down when various interested labels wanted us to guarantee the big names before signing the project, but Hal wanted the labels to sign the project before soliciting the artists. He said to me, "You can't call Keith Richards or Lou Reed and ask them if they'll do a song months from now but you need the commitment now. Nah, ya gotta get the money first and then reserve two weeks at a studio in Manhattan. Then you make calls and tell 'em you got the studio for two weeks starting that day, drop by and check it out, maybe do a song while you're hanging out."