April 9, 2020
Today we received the sad news of the death of John Prine due to complications of the Coronavirus. What should that matter, you may ask. Prine was the prophet of today’s loneliness epidemic long before anyone put that label on it. In his 1970 song he reminded all of us that loneliness among older people was a growing epidemic that will affect all of us. Sadly ironic, that he would die because of the Coronavirus that has taken everyone into social isolation, not only older people, to the forefront and the front page. Older people today behind assisted living and nursing home windows still wonder if anyone knows they are there.
John Prine’s classic about old age and loneliness; “Hello in There” was written as a prelude to his father’s lonely and isolated days in a nursing home.
Ya’ know that old trees just grow stronger
And old rivers grow wilder ev’ry day
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, “Hello in there, hello.”
Image source: country-folk-music-singer-john-prine-73-dies-from-covid-19
He was 24 years old when he wrote this song and the song reminds us how in this country, we continue to write off older population. Prine used to say: “I’ve always had an affinity for old people,” he said in 2016. “I used to help a buddy with his newspaper route, and I delivered to a Baptist old people’s home where we’d have to go room-to-room. And some of the patients would kind of pretend that you were a grandchild or nephew that had come to visit, instead of the guy delivering papers. That always stuck in my head.”
What a tribute to Prine’s empathy and what a reminder that all of us—at least those who are lucky enough, will grow older but also grow stronger, wilder or just more lonesome? Perhaps this social isolation imposed on all generations because of the virus will teach us the pain of being lonely and perhaps we will all developed a new empathy for our elders. Prine’s song ends with hope in our ability to change, and perhaps we needed a virus to be able to do so.
So, if you’re walking down the street sometime
And spot some hollow ancient eyes
Please don’t just pass ’em by and stare
As if you didn’t care, say, “Hello in there, hello”