Hello In There

Brandi Carlile recently appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to pay tribute to singer-songwriter John Prine, who died on April 7,2020 at age 73 from complications related to COVID-19.

Brandi chose to play one of John's most beloved songs, Hello in There, which she said has special meaning amid the coronavirus pandemic. “I think that this is a song that John would like me to sing, because this song refers to the people that we're all staying home to protect,” Brandi said.

This song was on John’s self titled first album released in 1971. And what a debut it was: Illegal Smile, Hello in There, Sam Stone, Paradise, Far From Me, Angel From Montgomery, Donald and Lydia — all my favorites. Born in 1946, John wrote all these great tunes when he was twenties, or maybe his teens.

(The Great Compromise and Souvenirs were on his second album — more favorites.)

John has said, "I heard the John Lennon song Across the Universe, and he had a lot of reverb on his voice. I was thinking about hollering into a hollow log, trying to get through to somebody — Hello in there. That was the beginning thought, then it went to old people.”

“I’ve always had an affinity for old people. I used to help a buddy with his newspaper route, and I delivered to a Baptist old peoples 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.”

“It was all that stuff together, along with that pretty melody. I don't think I've done a show without singing Hello in There. Nothing in it wears on me."

He told Bruce Pollock, "The names mean a lot. You know, like Loretta in Hello In There. I wanted to pick a name that could be an old person's name, but I didn't want it to stick out so much. People go through phases one year where a lot of them will name their kids the same &ellipsis; and I was just thinking that it was very possible that the kind of person I had in mind could be called Loretta. And it's not so strange that it puts her in a complete time period."

As for the name of old factory friend Rudy, Prine explains, "We used to live in this three-room flat and across the street there was this dog who would never come in and the dog's name was Rudy. And the lady used to come out at five o'clock every night and go 'Ru-dee! Ru-dee!' And I was sitting there writing and suddenly I go 'Rudy! Yeah! I got that.”

I remember the first time I heard my friend William (he was Billy back then) play Hello in There. You can’t remember everything that happened in your years, but some things are just special enough that you remember exactly, even things that happened more than 50 years ago. I recall thinking about the meaning of that title. Were these old folks closed up and so they were “in there” … in their thoughts … in their recollections … in their memories?

So, just to refresh everyone’s memory, here is

Hello in There.

We had an apartment in the city
Me and Loretta liked living there
Well, it'd been years since the kids had grown
A life of their own left us alone

John and Linda live in Omaha
And Joe is somewhere on the road
We lost Davy in the Korean war
And I still don't know what for, don't matter anymore

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"

Me and Loretta, we don't talk much more
She sits and stares through the back door screen
And all the news just repeats itself
Like some forgotten dream that we've both seen

Someday I'll go and call up Rudy
We worked together at the factory
But what could I say if asks "What's new?"
"Nothing, what's with you? Nothing much to do"

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"

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"