John Prine and Bob Dylan are two of the best songwriters of all time. So much so that the two are also often referred to as literary giants. Indeed, they are giants of both categories as their songs have massively influenced intellectual pop culture all over the world. With the two of them, no stone went uncovered. Everything was fair game and up for interpretation, and it’s this very attitude that Dylan popularized and Prine capitalized on. For there would be no John Prine if there was no Bob Dylan.
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Both Prine and Dylan have often been complementary of each other. Dylan made comments on Prine’s music and vice versa, and whatever conversations happened between them were surely ones that influenced both their careers. Though, this relationship and admiration, no matter how undocumented and private, would have not been possible if it were not for some arbitrary night in New York City.
The Night John Prine Met Dylan
Prine descended upon New York City in the ’70s after coming from Illinois as a mailman. Between receiving a resounding review from Roger Ebert and making friends with Kris Kristofferson, Prine was well on his way to making a name for himself. But, before that happened, he met the very man who partially created his style, Bob Dylan.
Upon arriving in New York, Prine recalled, “I got to New York and me and [Steve] Goodman picked up a Village Voice and saw that Kris [Kristofferson] was playing at the Bitter End” and “we said, ‘Hey let’s go straight down there,’” per the Grammy Museum. Prine and Goodman went to the show, watched Kristofferson, and then hung around to talk to him a bit after. The conversation Prine had with Kristofferson resulted in an invitation to Carly Simon’s apartment. Given that Prine was just starting to get his wings, this was not only a party, but an opportunity.
Once at the party, all of a sudden Mr. Bob Dylan showed up. A Bob Dylan who was on hiatus due to his recent and infamous motorcycle crash. Prine remembers, “We got introduced and pretty soon the guitars came out. I got to singing one of my songs called ‘Far From Me’” and “My first album was three weeks away from being released, and all of a sudden Bob Dylan starts singing along.”
What that first interaction entailed was a long-standing relationship of mutual respect and admiration. Shortly after they met, Dylan forwent his musical hiatus and appeared on stage with Prine and Goodman to play the harmonica. Needless to say, most music fans would have done anything to be a fly on the wall in Prine and Dylan’s first interaction.
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