“The Singing Mailman”: The Inspiration John Prine Discovered From His Former Vocation

Any writer worth a sweat has a diverse catalog of experiences in their psyche. How these experiences are garnered does not matter, it just matters that they happened, are remembered, and then shared. One singer/songwriter who is a master of this is the great John Prine.

Prine’s attention to detail is arguably better than any songwriter of all time. He writes poignant and attentive lyrics that perfectly describe both the subject matter and themes within the given song. That being so, he seemingly would not have grasped this skill if it wasn’t for his previous vocation as a mailman in the city of Chicago. This experience helped Prine not only better his understanding of the human race but also helped him acquire stories and circumstances that not even the brightest of minds could imagine.

John Prine “The Singing Mailman”

Prior to realizing that he wanted to be a full-time songwriter, Prine was very content with his vocation as a mailman. The stability, steady income, and manageable lifestyle were all conducive to an easy life he could flourish in. He told Rolling Stone, “I knew until I decided what I wanted to be, it was a good place to be.” “Because I didn’t have to worry about any bills or anything. The post office didn’t drive me crazy. I could handle it,” he added.

Even though being a mail carrier was a sufficient job for Prine, he realized his calling was to write songs. Upon this realization, it seems that Prine figured out his vocation could actually help him find inspiration for some of his tunes. Matter of fact, Prine dedicated a whole album to his previous vocation titled, The Singing Mailman Delivers.

In the press release of the song, Prine stated about his former profession, “I always likened the mail route to a library with no books” and “I passed the time each day making up these little ditties.” Prine’s mailman career clearly did not continue for as long as he believed it was going to, but the job title stuck with them for nearly his entire career.

In 1970, the film critic, Roger Ebert, discovered Prine in a Chicago nightclub and wrote a review that would change his life. Ebert wrote, “Through no wisdom of my own but out of sheer blind luck, I walked into the Fifth Peg, a folk club on West Armitage, one night in 1970 and heard a mailman from Westchester singing. This was John Prine.” And well, the rest was history and John Prine would forever be, in some fashion, the singing mailman.

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