‘Make him an angel,’ mourning fans write
A defining figure of the Americana genre
As John Prine tells it, he just couldn’t write another song about old people.
“I said everything I wanted to in ( his song) Hello In There,” Prine recalled saying roughly 50 years ago to a friend as the pair brainstormed song ideas together in a Chicago apartment. “I can’t do it.”
But Prine, then a letter carrier in his 20s who wrote songs while on breaks from his day job, was still inspired by the suggestion.
“I thought for a while and said, ‘ How ’ bout a song about a middle-aged woman who feels older than she is?’” he told writer Paul Zollo in an interview for the 2016 book More Songwriters on Songwriting.
His friend wasn’t interested. But the idea stuck with Prine.
“I had this really vivid picture of this woman standing over the dishwater with soap in her hands and just walking away from it all,” he said.
With that, Prine got to work and he already knew exactly what the song’s opening line would be.
“I am an old woman named after my mother.”
Angel From Montgomery, Hello In There and many of Prine’s other songs were on people’s minds Tuesday after news broke the singer- songwriter, a defining figure of the Americana genre, had died at age 73 in Nashville due to complications from the coronavirus.
Fans flooded social media with clips of Prine performing Angel From Montgomery, as well as covers done by scores of other prominent musicians ranging from such icons as Bonnie Raitt and John Denver to newer stars like Maggie Rogers.
“His words and melodies draw chuckles and blood, and tears of sorrow and redemption, all leading to truths widely known but never before articulated,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame. “John’s mind was a treasure chest, open to us all. We mourn his passing, even as we hold the treasure.”
The musician once said he tries “to look through someone else’s eyes” in his songs. “I want to give the audience a feeling more than a message,” Prine said.
As fans mourned Prine’s death, many included the lyrics from Angel From Montgomery in their tributes — but with a slight edit.
“Make him an angel,” they wrote.