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Watch John Prine Play His Last Recorded Song, 'I Remember Everything'

When John Prine died on April 7 due to complications from COVID-19, he didn't just leave behind a rich recorded legacy. He also left behind works in progress — threads and sketches from a fruitful late career marked by wistful, plainspoken reflections on a life well lived.

On Friday, Prine's label released his last recorded song: "I Remember Everything," which he wrote with longtime collaborator Pat McLaughlin and recorded with prolific Nashville producer Dave Cobb. As its title suggests, it's a humble but wide-ranging, deeply graceful look back for an artist who knows his end is approaching.

I've been down this road before

Alone as I can be

Careful not to let my past

Go sneaking up on me

Got no future in my happiness

Though regrets are very few

Sometimes a little tenderness

Was the best that I could do

"I Remember Everything" is available now via Oh Boy Records .

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Stephen Thompson
Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)