Naomi Weisman is a Canadian-Australian and mother of three, who loves to ramble with her dog, cook for family and friends, and laugh whenever possible.
In a way, John Prine and Steve Goodman are members of my family. Let me explain.
My parents met in the early 60s and developed a love of folk music together. In Canada, Toronto was the epicenter of the folk music scene. Artists like Neil Young, Burton Cummings, Joni Mitchell, and Robbie Robertson honed their skills in clubs downtown before they made it big south of the border in the United States.
Up-and-coming American artists of the 60s and 70s also liked to test new songs on a Canadian audience. Clubs like The Riverboat Coffee House and The Purple Onion Coffee House in the Yorkville area of the city were popular with American folk artists like Kris Kristofferson, Steve Goodman, and John Prine.
Kris Kristofferson was a favorite of my mother’s. His blue eyes and gravelly voice made her weak in the knees. One night, she dragged my dad down to the Riverboat Coffee House to see Kristofferson play, and their lives changed for the better because John Prine and Steve Goodman were also performing that night.
These guys often toured together because they were best friends and collaborators. Both artists debuted their first self-titled albums in 1971 and found their niche audiences in the folk music world. My parents became instantly devoted and would see them whenever they came into town. So often were Mom and Dad in the audience that Prine and Goodman started to recognize them and chat with them between sets.
In 1972, when I was 5 years old, Steve Goodman came to my house. My parents were having a dinner party and invited him. It was time for my brother Daniel and me to go to bed, so Goodman offered to play us a song while Mom tucked us in. His music was constantly playing in our house, so Daniel and I were able to sing along, which made Goodman smile. I still remember that smile.
Unfortunately, Goodman died of leukemia before his career had time to really take off, but he left some incredible songs like City of New Orleans, Yellow Coat, You Never Even Call Me By My Name, and My Old Man for the world to remember him by.
So, what makes them a part of my family, and why does their music transcend time? It’s the writing and the storytelling.
Their songs are understated, alternately moving, controversial, kind, and funny. My parents loved language, and many of the lyrics within Goodman and Prine’s individual songbooks are so clever and thoughtful that they became a part of our family lexicon. We could all recite lines from their songs in order to convey meaning in the world around us.
For example, on Prine’s first album, there is a song called Hello In There. It is about how society often disregards the elderly, rendering them invisible. When I would visit my mom in her nursing home, the lyrics to that song would run through my head as I passed people sitting in the hallway on my way to mom’s room. I used those lyrics as a reminder to stop and have a chat with these neighbors who would otherwise be staring into space.
This is the last stanza:
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"
My mom suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. When she was at the end stages of her life, her vocabulary had disappeared into the recesses of her brain, and she had lost her ability to speak intelligibly. If I put a John Prine or a Steve Goodman CD on her little stereo, she could sing each song word for word because their songs went straight to my mother’s heart and soul and soothed her when her mind was muddled.
At her funeral, our favorite Prine and Goodman songs were playing as people came in, making everyone smile.
In 2019, I took my biological mother and her sister to Ireland. We wanted to visit the land of our forefathers and to immerse ourselves in the unique culture there. One of the things that we did most nights was visit the pubs to listen to live music.
It’s one of the things I loved most about that trip. Just local people getting together to play and sing. Many of the songs were Irish, but they sang John Prine songs on a few occasions, and the pub patrons were singing along, including Helen, Lynn, and me!
We found this amazing until I remembered that John Prine’s wife is Irish and that they have a home in County Donegal. It turns out that whenever the Prines were in Ireland, they would go to their local pub to play with other local musicians. Needless to say, John Prine has many devoted fans in there.
Now, my kids listen to these wonderful songs. I have even found my teenage son singing along to Fish and a Whistle or Lake Marie as he’s doing his homework, and I couldn’t be prouder.
I know that my dad would be grinning from ear to ear to know that his grandkids were influenced by these songs that were gifted to us to help make the world an easier place to live.
We all have legacies that we pass down through the generations. Some are good, and some not so much. I will always be grateful to my parents for passing their love of language and music down to me.
Listening to lyrics and absorbing their meaning has enriched my life and my kids' lives in ways that cannot be measured. John Prine and Steve Goodman have been able to connect my family through music and remind us to be kinder people, so this is why they are family to me.
I created this Spotify playlist for you to enjoy and would love to hear about the soundtrack to your childhood in the comments.
READ MORE > Nomi's Pics, Rambler Cafe Blog
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