Way Back Then (John Prine cover)

JP tribute week 28: a sweet little 3 chord, nostalgic lullaby from "The Missing Years". Although this is a deeper cut, "Way Back Then" has long been one of my favorite Prine songs. It's a sweet complement to a lot of other stuff going on in what many consider his career resurrection with the 1991 Grammy award winner for Best Contemporary Folk Album. I really don't have much to add in the way of trivia or deep thoughts on this one. The lyrics and melody are pure Prine and stand alone. But I did stumble upon a live recording of this song from 1993 where he tells a great story, a story that could only be true in his world, so I will just quote him now: He Travis picks the melody/chord progression twice, then says: "Bob Dylan told me he taught this song to Keith Richards. They practiced it for an hour, they were going to do it in Seville, Spain. And then Keith finally looked at Dylan and said, "too many words"... So Dylan said to me, "Can you imagine him saying that to me?"... I said "No, Bob"". I about died when I heard that. During the pre-punchline pause, I was already shaking my head and chuckling at the irony of Keith Richards' words to Dylan, then right on time Prine delivers the punchline. It's pretty safe to say they must not have played "Idiot Wind" or "It's a Hard Rain Gonna Fall" that night. Here is a link to that recording for any recent converts and/or die-hards that have not heard it before. It was certainly new to me.    • John Prine - Way Back Then (Live 1993)