Hello in There

Folk singer-songwriter John Prine explained in a Performing Songwriter interview how this track was sparked from a John Lennon tune and evolved into a poignant song about growing old: "I heard the John Lennon song 'Across The Universe,' and he had a lot of reverb on his voice. I was thinking about hollering into a hollow log, trying to get through to somebody - 'Hello in there.' That was the beginning thought, then it went to old people I've always had an affinity for old people. I used to help a buddy with his newspaper route, and I delivered to a Baptist old peoples home where we'd have to go room-to-room. And some of the patients would kind of pretend that you were a grandchild or nephew that had come to visit, instead of the guy delivering papers. That always stuck in my head. It was all that stuff together, along with that pretty melody. I don't think I've done a show without singing 'Hello in There.' Nothing in it wears on me."

Prine on choosing the name Loretta for the song's aging wife (as told to Bruce Pollock): "The names mean a lot. You know, like Loretta in 'Hello In There.' I wanted to pick a name that could be an old person's name, but I didn't want it to stick out so much. People go through phases one year where a lot of them will name their kids the same... and I was just thinking that it was very possible that the kind of person I had in mind could be called Loretta. And it's not so strange that it puts her in a complete time period." As for the name of old factory friend Rudy, Prine explains: "We used to live in this three-room flat and across the street there was this dog who would never come in and the dog's name was Rudy. And the lady used to come out at five o'clock every night and go 'Ru-dee! Ru-dee!' And I was sitting there writing and suddenly I go 'Rudy! Yeah! I got that.'"