Song of the Day 1/22: John Prine, “Souvenirs”

This time of year always reminds me of the first verse of this song — Christmas has come and gone, and every kid has broken at least one toy by now. Prine included it on his second album, with his friend and champion Steve Goodman lending his finger-picking and harmony.

In this TV concert from 2001, Prine tells the story of how it was written: He had started playing a regular Thursday night gig at The Fifth Peg in Chicago, and after a few weeks he started to worry that he was playing the same songs week after week — so he wrote “Souvenirs” one night driving to the show.

There’s a second tune tacked onto the end of this video, of Goodman singing “You’re the Girl I Love.” Memories can’t be boughten, but we do have YouTube to keep them around.