2:20
The Tree Of Forgiveness, 2018
Written by Pat McLaughlin and John Prine
The narrator of this song is busted, destitute, and alone. But it's a story told, of course, with Prine's brilliant deadpan winking wit: "If you see somebody / Would you send em' over my way? / I could use some help here / With a can of pork and beans." After adumbrating his troubles, the narrator shifts gears, and the song becomes wistful, as images of good times and of a long-gone love, perhaps, flit by. Whose screen door is it he dreams of knocking on? Who was once out there, climbing the trees? There's a sailboat and "sweet potato wine." Sounds nice. It's a testament to Prine's genius and delivery that he could take a song of poverty and loneliness and turn it into something beautifully sad.
No comments:
Post a Comment