Learning the real meaning of John Prine's most wonderful song

I was 21 years old when I first heard of John Prine.

It was 1971, and his first album was in the stores with all sorts of amazing songs. The humorous "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore" was wonderful, as were "Sam Stone," "Spanish Pipedream," "Illegal Smile" and others.

"Sam Stone" in particular touched my heart.

"There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes ..."

 I played the album over and over, but there was one song that just didn't quite resonate with me. I was just 21, Prine himself was 25, so what was he doing writing a song about the loneliness of getting old?

But "Hello in There" was a wonderful song, and as years passed and I was no longer so young, I began to understand exactly how sad the song was.



"You know that old trees just grow stronger, old rivers grow wilder every day. Old people just grow lonesome ..."

It really hit me in 1991. I've written about this before, but it's a story that is definitely worth telling again. I was covering the then-Los Angeles Rams, and weekday interviews generally took place at the end of the morning practice.

I was 41 that year, older but still relatively young. While waiting for practice to end, I was talking with an older man who had been an actor but was now a freelance reporter for CBS Radio. Biff Elliott hadn't been a big star, but the Internet Movie Database lists 76 acting credits -- movies and television -- for him from 1950-86.

He actually played the lead in one movie, "I The Jury" from 1953.

All I knew about him was that he often asked silly questions and he didn't seem to have many friends among the other media types.

But we talked that day -- for at least half an hour -- and I learned a lot of interesting things I would never have known. Biff was 68 that summer, and he had been friends with some very famous writers who were no longer around.

He was with playwright Clifford Odets in 1963 when Odets was on his deathbed, and he also had been friends with the legendary Tennessee Williams. Another good friend and golfing buddy of his, actor Jack Lemmon, had surprised him on his last birthday with a brand-new set of golf clubs.

When practice ended and it was time to work, he thanked me for listening to him.

I told him it was my pleasure, that it had been a fascinating conversation. What he said next nearly broke my heart.

"When you get old, people just don't seem to want to talk to you anymore. It's like they wish you would just go away."

That was a long time ago, but I have never forgotten those words. I stopped covering sports in 1996, and I don't remember ever running into Biff again. When I looked him up on IMDB, I saw that he had died in 2012, two years after my wife and I moved to Georgia. He was 89, so he had a good long life.

But in 1991, when he was 68, people already thought of him as an old man.

In another 2 1/2 years, I will be 68. If I'm not already there, I'll be the old guy some people wish would just go away.

Now when I listen to John Prine sing "Hello in There," I know exactly what he means.