He’s not looking backward at his wilder days,
Not hoping to finally find a love that stays,
Mostly he’s waitin for the final bell,
And if he gets to heaven,
He’s hopin to raise some hell.

Sinatra’s regrets were too few to mention,
But John’s regrets have got his attention,
He’s giving forgiveness, and asking it too,
From all of the monkeys he sees in the zoo.

Once he was on the outside and just lookin in,
But now he’s lived long enough to collect on those sins.
(Hello in there, John, Hello.)
Sounds like you must be goin,
And feeling kind of blue,
But thanks for all the memories,
And harmonies rung true.

— Ernest Lilley “I hate graveyards and old pawnshops
Cause they always bring me tears.
Can’t forgive the way they rob me,
Of my childhood souvenirs.”

–John Prine, Souvenirs, Diamonds in the Rough (1972)

So, John Prine has released a new album since Fair and Square (2005), and it seems as though he’s finally been discovered, which took a while considering that I started listening to him a little less than 50 years ago that winter I wore the grooves off his self-titled debut album.

The new album doesn’t have any of that rebel yell on it, but it’s as Prine as anything he’s written, full of songs about regrets, reconciliations, and the recognition that all too soon he’ll be leaving on a coal train, never to come back this way again.

I listened to the album start to finish on Spotify, and after it was over they moved on to “Paradise,” from that debut album, and a fitting note to end on.

“When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I’ll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin’
Just five miles away from wherever I am”

— John Prine, Paradise, John Prine (1971)

Well, he’s not dead yet, not by a long shot.