John Prine - Hello In There Lyrics

This song introduced me to John Prine. It was used in an old Doonesbury cartoon on TV that I happened to hear, probably 40(?) or so years ago.

Thank you, John, for such a beautiful song about getting older and perhaps being more alone than you might be comfortable with! Look at all the photos of these beautiful aging people, but there is one man with hollow ancient eyes at 4:02 that I think I know? Amen...

One of the most wonderful songs he ever wrote.

Never thought i would live to see the day where im one of the old people john sings about (at least getting there at 67)

This brilliant song has inspired me to say a friendly "hello" to elderly people since I first heard it around age 11. Great music can change the world and make it a better place 1 hello at a time.

This song hits home just turned 60 my step kids that I raised want nothing to do with me after their cheating slut mother left me she never gave a damn about the kids I loved them and always will.

Awesome ❣️ Singer,he's been around awhile,just found him,watt a voicen
Lyrics to tell tha stories!♥️🇺🇸

Unforgettable, the best artist ever. Love him.

The story of life from America’s greatest storyteller 🙏

I genuinely feel sorry for the people who downvoted this song. Too bad you’ve never felt the love of a parent. So sad.

Why do 669 people dislike this video? My guess is they were abused. Jesus Saves People. Stop Hating !

Yes it does.

My Dad,""""" 2 purple Hearts, Bronze Star, & POW ,,, Air core, then 82scnd Airborne, WW2,, Korea, & Nam, He was found dead in his Aprtmnt """ ALONE"" Age 87,, I was Active duty stationed in Alaska, This song makes me cry ,, More than anyone could imagine .. I HATE THIS SONG, & Love this man for writing it,, I NEVER EVER, Pass a older person without talking to them & ask them about their Life, Their struggles , Their happiest moments, their children.. etc.. This song changed MY Life. kodi

It is nice to harken back to a time when people respected their elders.

Lost Old Davy in the War, Dont know (care) anymore... Fucking PUKE. The word Country comes from the gut just like puke.

A Great one from one of America's true Music/Songwriting Legends/Icon. JP!!

John Prine is an American Treasure ! Goodness Grace Happiness and Continued Success..Mr Prine Thank you for sharing so many memories of Life ...ol couple of 50yrs way down in TX jd

The only thing that is sadder than losing a parent to death... watching them age and fade, knowing there is nothing you can do to stop this.. is losing a child. For a dear friend, you know who you are... I am so very sorry for their grief and pain you are suffering. I wish I could stop it. I would have done anything to prevent this. Such a great loss... I am so very sorry. I hope your family and friends give you some comfort. I am here for you... /// and for my mother, watching her fade.. and my father.. yes, we only get one of each, cherish them forever. Life is short, too short :'( <3

John doesn’t write songs. He writes poetry from the heart and then puts music to it. This is the most heartfelt song I’ve ever heard. I’ve played it hundreds of times and get the same feeling every time. God Bless this man.

This is a beautiful and sad song. Thank you, John Prine.

Say hello and to homeless too, hello

John Prine as a young man must have noticed old people loneliness and it must have touched his feelings very deeply and drove him to compose this song as a wake-up call for young generation not to neglect old lonesome people. God bless John Prine.

Magnificent song

David Harbour of Stranger Things at :48 sec

HOW TRUMP PREVENTS OLD AGE?
He creates wars so you can go and die young!
Yep!
That's what this son of a bitch thinks of you!

it has been years since i have heard this song

masterpiece, love

never fails to bring tears to my eyes

John Prine is one of America's greatest poets....living or dead.

Being 72 and starting to feel that way lucky I've a Best Friend Wife of 50yrs keeping me in line ! John Prine is a Classic American Treasure in Music, Songwriter, Artist, and a Great Man helping then younger generations of Artists with Humanity and never forgetting where they come from and never forgetting others to help along with that Said God Bless you Mr.Prine from an ol 72 yr young picker from way down in TX...jd

This song has always made me cry...and i still listen to it

Very very nice work Eileen

At 72 years of age , having lost 3 young children and my wife , now disabled , I know exactly the feeling Prine is trying to evoke in this song .
Old folks , when they are no longer needed and depended on are the loneliest and the most useless and the most worthless feeling people ever .
Nothing can compare to that emptiness .

If this beautiful song don't touch you Hart , then I'm sorry for you, as your already dead

Hello in there O'.

Never ceases to amaze me how such a young man can understand the experiences of others, particularly those who are so far down the line into old age. He is, as a wise man once said to me, John Prine is a National Treasure, and I would say a Treasure also to all of humanity.

My Wife's Mother lived 97yrs and was as good a Mother Sister Best Friend as anyone could dream of born in 1914 ...she lived through Heart disease beat it cancer in her 90s breast and colon beat it ....one day she called her Daughter Mary she recently moved from Arz. Back to tv .she said come see me I'm just tired Mary begged don't leave ... She stated I'm just tired Honey when she passed you could see the peace on her soul from the weight of this worlld leaving her ...John Prine is an Aneurysm Songwriting Singing Guitar playing Treasure 71 now and can sometimes relate to hello in there..our 50yrs together blessed ! John new work Summers End Tree of Life are as good as they get Thank you Mr John for all the decades of Memories...ol couple way down in TX...

For the number of people who gave this song the thumbs down , here have a few of these babies 🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕😉

For 30 years I carried mail in a small town in Pennsylvania, on the same route for 23 of those years. I never forgot John's words. I always looked for those opportunities to say "Hello in there" and perhaps I made someones day a little better in my neighborhood. And now I am one of those old souls looking for someone to say "Hello in there". Thank you John for your humanity.

Sales- to create the proper emotion to bring them to a buying decision. Im sold. A salesman is really just a master storyteller. We paint a mental picture, we stir feelings, the buy in. The trick is lopping their heads off and they love ya for it! Beg for more. GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT!!(kinks) anyway I'm sold. How bout you? I was born in 66. Not a boomer technically, but a warning, our predecessors aren't going to be writing songs about us like this. This goes out to Patti from Denver who was essentially euthanized last week for not having insurance and getting sick. They drug their feet until she died. Criminal. They killed my friend of slim means Gary up in 29 palms area too. Just dont treat them let them die... Or in his case, he caught the nurse cranking up his o2 to triple to kill him in his sleep, he busted her. He called me frantic, I was buying a ticket to go take him out of there(his own daughter gave not one fuck all), and he gave up and died. Heart broke from the thought he was a burden. And he was a bit of a sacrifice to deal with, but a DEAL AT TWICE THE PRICE. Ashley will realize the error of her ways someday, when she's the one who is old and sick. Hope her kids do her better then she did her Popps, aintagonna be holdin my breath.... In closing, getting old (guitar strings growing out of my nose, everything hurts 24/7, people suck the life outta yas on n on) SUCKS A FART, beats a pine box. By a long shot.

A civilization is measured by the way it treats it's elderly

oustanding pics with an outstanding song!

Riding in my car listening n crying.doesnt often happen but this song does it every time. I'm sure I'm not unique with the good cry.thanks John Prine....

I love you dad.

Epic first album - this song is beautiful but poignant

The recording by the divine miss m is what brought me here. Thank the Lord, Midler recorded this with Barry manilow before she went mainstream.

Beautiful words

I'm only 12 but a few of my family memebers have died and this song means so much to me

I miss you dad. So much. This song brings me close to you. Thank you John

Hello.... Nothing like experience....I am getting experience too fast !,🤘🏻

I guess Chris Bell aped this melody for You and Your Sister.

from as far back as memory goes (age 4-ish), i have loved older ppl and especially the elderly. now i am one, and sad to see how they were/we are treated.

several hundred soulless ppl can go jump a fkn bridge. or do a hotshot.
i first heard this when 17, and was deeply impacted then. it has never diminished in beauty, profundity, wisdom or heart.
simply beautiful.

John Prine is 73 today-he released this in 1971,when he was 25 years old,which means he wrote this then or before-think about that for a minute.Beautiful song and video to match.Thank you.

definitely.
most definitely.

Haunting and beautiful.....

One of my all-time favorite songs. Thanks for the beautiful lyric video. This will be the www.singdaily.com Song of the Day for October 10th, 2019.

Very well done exposition of one of Prine's masterpieces. You did it justice. Nice work

Powerful. True.

Beautiful song

Lots of memories. Yep! They may not look good to you, but they still have lots to say.

smile . is all I've left for John. Too hateful liberal democrat for me now,'

really? that is disappointing. liberalism at this point is undisguised socialism.

@truth matters That's exactly what I meant to say. John Prine came to Odessa and trashed our President, like all liberals seem to do nowadays. I have no feelings for John Prine, where once I got chills when he sang, but no more.

@steve prichard what a bummer. unless their foray is protest music, can't they just shut the hell up and entertain?

My husband and I are there.

Doesn't get much more poignant than this.

I saw him play this in Ann Arbor not too long after he released this album. It made me cry then. It makes me cry now, 48 years later.

exactly.

this song has a feeling of resignation in it- retirement, if you will

Saddest song, I have ever heard. Bawl my eyes out, every single time.

The older we grow....the greater we know ..
The end s gonna come...where did the years go..
.. soon our lives will be done...
.did we get our share of fun ...
.when we take our final bow.
..and wonder just how

the fwk .all's said and done ...
when we hardly just begun..
.but its all over now
Be thankful that somehow..
.we lived right up till we died....
Wow!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much for all of my tears.

Simon & Garfunkle, Bookends, 1968
4. Overs
5. Voices of Old People
6. Old Friends
Not quite the same, but still demonstrates that unanticipated empathy

I didnt know Dickey Betts wrote this song. Did you?

Hello In There notes

"I wrote Hello In There on the mail route.
I'd 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 to old people. I used to help a buddy with his newspaper route and I'd deliver to a Baptist old people's home where you'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 n 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." ~John Prine

Wow how soon time passes

i heard this song for the first time yesterday, 48 yrs ago.
(if you get my drift)

happened again

Really wonderful song x

I only discovered John Prine around 12 months ago ( his cover of Blaze Foley's Clay Pigeons) never knew what I'd been missing. This is probably my favourite of all his songs. So sad.

Matthew adlard Matt lynch iv lost you but never will forget you my co d dearly missed love you you t#at !!!!!

this "little" song is a Master piece written by the Little Big Man : John Prine. Thanks for sharing

When I first heard this, I thought it was about my parents and grandparents, Now it is about me. My turn.

When life immitates art....
Run like hell lol

I cry every time I listen to this haunting ballad

I do too.

I love to sit and talk to older people especially WW2 veterans and survivors of the great depression. I have gained much wisdom and insight from listening to older folks and asking questions. Most of the time they open their hearts and sometimes they bare their souls, what an experience.

Hello in there, I see you!

So many things so many ways ... John Prine held them for me.

No follow up to that. Young man and always a big brother because you cared what happened to the rest of us. I love you John.

I love the video, and this tune

I can remember when I less than 10 years old, I really loved to talk to older people, I couldn't stand the thought that people would walk right by them, never even noticed that was a person, but you know something in reality it was their loss, I would talk to them and ask about things I didn't know about, I always came away knowing more than I did, one thing I have learned about getting older, is that if we live long enough, that person will be you and I one day, I am only 66, I love life and I love all you guys out there for making the world a little better I pray that we all love each other and appreciate each other

JOHN STOP MAKING ME CRY

John Prime. That's all you need to know. Timeless

From Dear Abby to Hello in there ---Life Times

Mr. Prine is from Muhlenbbreg County, KY and so am I. My Uncle were neighbors and I had the pleasure to met him. Super nice guy. Every time me and my daughter hear one of his songs I say I met him once and than she finishes the story. I laugh every time.

Can’t listen without tearing up. John is a national treasure.

Best first album ever made. National treasure.

Sad song and so true words..😢😢😢The words brought me to tears.

Call your parents

I'm Only 75 now,but also hear old age Sucks..
sure hope I don't live long enough ta find out..
Thanks John.. for reminding me..'bout Old Trees,an Wild Rivers

607 thumps down. Those numbers can't be real people. Programmers haven't created hearts into bots.

it's gone up a bit. some ppl actually thrive on being ugly, some are just heartess. neither has a soul.

WHAT is wrong with the 607 ass holes who gave Thumb's down to this classic friendly respectful song ???

if you see this comment -- it's up to 641. sad to see so many soulless/heartless things out there.

He’s at Shea’s in buffalo tonight wish I was there

I JUST CANNOT BELIEVE THE EMOTIONS HIS SONGS BRING OUT IN ME,,NO OTHER ARTIST AFFECTS ME THIS WAY ,,,AGAIN JOHN PRINE ,YOU ARE A UNIVERSAL GIANT.