16. Long Monday

 John Prine. One of the best songwriters of all time. The songwriting Maywood, IL mailman that penned some classic songs that capture the essence of the human experience as good as anyone to ever write a song.  He had a delivery style that was genuine and made it feel like he was an uncle or a grandfather figure. Probably number 2 on my all time list. I mean look at the output: Angel From Montgomery, Souvenirs, Hello in There, Lake Marie (Dylan's favorite), That's the Way the World Goes Round, Sam Stone and so many others.  Tragically, Covid claimed his life earlier this year, but some of his late life masterpieces will appear on this blog. It is only natural for me to be drawn to his music. The guy wrote the lyric,"the years flow by like a broken down dam." Anyone that knows me or has read this blog knows that the passage of time is always on my mind and the song I will cover here does just that. 

Long Monday, just the title draws me in. Who among us hasn't dreaded a long tedious Monday? It gets even better once you start hearing him sing it.  Chiming finger picked guitar welcomes us in to his memories of a love in the back of his memory and the verse continues down that path. One of the things I love about Prine is how he says things by saying things that on their own may not mean anything. For example, "windows rolled up and my mind's rolled down".  On it's own it makes no sense, but at the same time it makes perfect sense. He does that a lot in his songs and I love it. Not wild dramatic imagery, but the simple day to day things that make you think and when you do you understand. I know exactly what it feels like to have my mind rolled down. 

Anyway, from the start I am immediately drawn back to the early days of my relationship with my wife.  Late nights, little responsibility and each other.  Nights that are forever in my mind. I'll be damned if those Saturday nights made it feel like Sunday and Monday would never come. Beautiful memories.  The whole song is just a celebration of the recollection of times with someone you love and the difficulty in letting go.  It really doesn't get much better than that. Simple and beautiful like we want life to be and songs like this help carry us back to simpler times and make us forget all there is going on in the world around us. 

#johnprine #longmonday #simplethings