Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

Music Monday

December 4, 2017

I have been loving George Michael’s Symphonica since I’ve first heard (and saw) it last December just days after he’d died. A few months later, I found the cd at a discount store and I’ve been listening to it a lot since then; the songs just getting more deeply ingrained into my consciousness. Most of the songs on the cd are older ones of his, but rearranged for a symphony. One of these is “John And Elvis Are Dead” This song was written by George Michael and a childhood friend, David Austin, and most likely based on a real conversation these two had had. It’s a lament especially for those singers we loved and who are now gone which now unfortunately includes George Michael himself. It’s also a lament for ourselves, our own lives that are fading away as we get older. So, let’s get on to the words and I’m going to actually comment on this one because it is so full of meaning for me and maybe for some of you too. (Note: The song is freeform to some extent so my comments are too. Also, remember, these are my thoughts – your mileage may vary.)

Close friend of mine as a child fell into a slumber
No sign of life since ’75
Then one day he just, what do you know
I guess God just called his number

I think this happens to all of us – we fall asleep somewhere along the line during life and then BOOM we are hit with a revelation that stuns us. We long for so much more out of life and God calls our number too. Whoever God is to you – the universe, Buddah, whoever, but it is still the central Being we long to connect with. I think it also speaks of depression, you’re out of it for a long time and then one day you realize that you’ve been gone for awhile. Like when John Lennon was shot on December 8, 1980. It’s hard to believe that was almost 40 years ago.

He called me up and said
“I’ve been awake about a week
I’m thinking about asking the doctor
If he could put me back to sleep”
Then he laughed and said
“Hey all the girls they look the same”
Don’t they know just what their mothers
Paid in blood and tears to change

So, friend is awake and wanting to be out of it – asking for medicine so he doesn’t have to think or feel anymore because what’s going on in his world is too painful. I think the next three lines are referring to the fact of the women’s revolution – mothers who paid in blood and tears to change – but the newer generation of girls don’t get it. Actually, this is me. I had no understanding or knowledge of the women’s suffrage movement, or women’s rights, or what it all meant. Lately I am reading a lot about it though – I need to understand it. I also need to be thankful because maybe my generation and those after have just taken a lot for granted because they don’t know. I’ve awakened from my slumber.

But the words that made me cry
The thing he softly said
It stayed with me, it keeps messing with my head
He said, “If Jesus Christ is alive and well
Then how come John and Elvis are dead?”

And now the kicker – if Jesus is alive how come these singers, actors, etc. have died? Especially the ones who’ve been murdered or just died so young. Like when David Bowie died last year – DAVID BOWIE for cripe’s sake! But, they are human too and they do die as we know all to well of recent weeks. I remember my mother crying when Elvis died and I didn’t get it because 1) I didn’t like Elvis and 2) I was 14 and hadn’t woken up to the world yet. She cried then for the same reasons I’m crying now.

Youth, beautiful youth
We walked through the walls until we found the truth
And said “Change it – it’s ugly just change it”
Everyone we used to know
Must have given up, so long ago
You can see it, it’s written on their faces
And the inside of their clothes

I think this is talking about us getting older and some aren’t going down without a fight. For many, this means plastic surgery – even men. OMG – Barry Manilow comes to mind. UGH. And some gave up early on trying not to age, but “you can see it’s written on their faces” – you can always tell when people have had a lot of face work. “And the inside of their clothes” – back in the 80’s designer names were the big new thing to show off – like Calvin Klein or Chanel. Changing ourselves because we believe ourselves ugly and not worthy unless we’re young and beautiful is not right. I’m not young and I’ve never been beautiful, but lately I see that I’m not ugly at all. I look fine and I’m finally started to accept that. Finally.

But the words that made me cry
‘Cause I knew just what they meant
He turned to me and said
“Hey boy, if Jesus Christ is alive and well
Then how come John and Elvis are dead?”

“Tell me if Jesus Christ is alive and well
Then how come Marvin and Elvis are dead?”

I said “If Jesus Christ is going to save us from ourselves
How come peace, love and Elvis are dead?”

We try to understand life and we never will. The older we get, the harder it seems to try to figure it all out. And we keep crying when these stars die because they were part of our lives as we’ve lived them.

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» 2017 » December » Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

Music Monday

December 4, 2017

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