Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows.

Storm Emma has been and gone and the Beast from The East has gone back to Siberia. On the news it was all about a Russian spy and his daughter being poisoned in Salisbury which is only down the road from here. I never thought the tentacles of the Kremlin would reach as far as sleepy Wiltshire. Anyway, I can’t be worrying about that, it’s got nothing to do with me. Spring is in the air again, so I thought today was the day to pot some seeds. I got a bag of compost from Davies and I had some packets of seeds from the cheap shop in the High Street. I think they were only fifty pence a packet. Much better than buying plants. This afternoon I potted some Stocks, Lupins, Sweet Williams, Marigolds, Impatiens and Sunflowers. I haven’t got room outside for a greenhouse, so they are in my kitchen window where I can watch them grow over the next few weeks. I’ll put some more on the window sill in the bathroom on another day.

I can multi-task. While I was doing that I was also listening to music. Today it was John Prine Live. This is a great album of nineteen songs that was released in 1988. I first heard of John Prine in 1972 when I bought a compilation album called The New Age Of Atlantic which had two songs I really liked. One was Motel Blues by Loudan Wainwright and the other was Sam Stone by John Prine. I haven’t followed Loudan Wainwright’s career that closely although I know he has written some great songs and I appreciate his connection with Kate & Anna McGarrigle. John Prine has always been around though. and I love his songs with Iris Dement who I must write something about soon.

This live album is great. John is a story teller as well as a great songwriter and introduces the songs with some funny tales. Bonnie Raitt makes an appearance on Angel From Montgomery. There are funny songs and sad songs. I find Hello In There, a song about ageing especially poignant. I got the title of this story from a line in the song Souvenirs. Other stand out songs for me include Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness, Mexican Home and Illegal Smile. There isn’t a bad song on the album though. Highly recommended. I have added a video of Sam Stone below if you would like to hear it.