Hello in There
By Dewey Turner
Hey Dewey,
What’s the best literary quote about memories you’ve read lately that sounds as though it could have been written by John Prine, only it wasn’t?
Just Wondering
Dear Just,
This, from Lorrie Moore’s new novel I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home which I actually came across it as the epigraph for writer Janet Manley’s essay “the opposite of anxiety is mango” on her substack Kafka’s Baby:
“When I go back to the places of the past, nothing is there anymore, as if I have made the whole thing up. It is as if life were just a dream placed in the window to cool, like a pie, then stolen.”
***
Hey Dewey,
Speaking of John Prine and memories, what’s the title of that memory song from John’s final album, Tree of Forgiveness?
Just Wondering. Again.
Dear Just,
“I Remember Everything,” co-written with Pat McLaughlin—the last song John recorded before he died. I cry every time I hear it. You can read about how “I Remember Everything” came to be in this article from The Tennessean, which includes a link to the video recording. There’s also a wonderful Peace Through Music cover you should listen to after that and add both to your infinite playlist.
***
Hey Dewey,
What about “Summer’s End”?
Just Wandering
Dear Wander,
Check out this short documentary for the haunting story behind the story of the music video of “Summer’s End,” and then listen to John Prine and one of his sons sing and play it all the way through, and THEN go kick back and listen to this cover by Phoebe Bridgers and Maria Taylor.
***
Hey Dewey,
Any chance John Prine ever did a thing with then-U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser 20 years ago at the Library of Congress to talk about his life and songwriting—his meaning John Prine’s, not Ted Kooser’s, though I’m sure Ted’s a hell of a great guy, too, and a hell of a poet, being from Iowa and all.
Still Just Wondering
Dear Still,
Here you go. Skip to 10:40 to get to the good stuff. Starts with John Prine singing “Fish and Whistle.”
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Hey Dewey,
Is it true what the bumper stickers say, that Donald Trump killed John Prine?
One Last Question
Dear Last,
John Prine’s not dead. I’m listening to my favorite song of his right now.
***
Dewey Turner spent much of his childhood in Polk County, Florida, and has been trying to leave ever since. But like James Joyce, self-exiled from Dublin, he keeps returning in one way or another. He reports–with some consternation but no real surprise–that a great number of the kids he knew when he was a boy grew up to become Florida Man.
GOT A QUESTION FOR “HEY DEWEY”? Email [email protected].
