Sunday Morning Post, V.1, #43: Anniversaries – All Sad
As a born
historian, I am compelled to note and mark past events. Not all events are noteworthy mind you, but
this weekend we have three days’ worth of anniversaries to note. Unfortunately, these anniversaries are for
sad events. Nevertheless, we must proceed.
Friday,
December 6, marked the 31st anniversary of Roy Orbison’s passing in
1988. His death was particularly bittersweet: his career had been revived due
to his work with The Traveling Wilburys, AKA The Greatest Band Who Never
Toured. So, let’s not mourn, but
celebrate a life well lived. It was cut
short, but well-lived.
In their
first single, Orbison sang the line, “I’m so tired of being lonely” as if he,
and only he, owned the right to sing the word “lonely”. I couldn’t agree more. We should have retired
the word from all future works of art once he passed away.
Saturday,
December 7th: Pearl Harbor Day.
This year is the 78th anniversary of the Japanese attack on
our naval station in Hawaii. It will
forever be remembered as “a day which will live in infamy”, but the tragedy had to
happen. It was America’s wake up call to
the fascism that is growing outside our shores in 1941.
Fast forward
to 2019: world leaders are literally laughing at us as we fail to deal with the
fascism growing within our borders. I
understand the irony, and I would love to laugh with them. For some reason I’m not in the mood to laugh.
Not yet anyway.
Sorry, no video for this.
Sunday, December 8th: the 39th anniversary of John Lennon’s murder in New York City. I found it hard to believe that it happened that night. I’m still can’t quite wrap my brain around it now, all these years later.
Sorry, no video for this.
Sunday, December 8th: the 39th anniversary of John Lennon’s murder in New York City. I found it hard to believe that it happened that night. I’m still can’t quite wrap my brain around it now, all these years later.
Some traumas
are not meant to be overcome.
As a tribute,
I want to post the song which was Lennon’s contribution to the season. It’s my favorite Christmas song and I must
hear it every day when it is the season.
Unfortunately, there’s no perfect video version of this song. We are opting for the version with lots of footage from Lennon’s life in peace activism. The official video version can also be seen on YouTube, but it’s EXTREMELY graphic. It shows various aftermath images of war and drives home the point (like a one-ton weight to the head) that war can only accomplish the total annihilation of the human race. Calling this version “heartbreaking” would be an understatement.
Unfortunately, there’s no perfect video version of this song. We are opting for the version with lots of footage from Lennon’s life in peace activism. The official video version can also be seen on YouTube, but it’s EXTREMELY graphic. It shows various aftermath images of war and drives home the point (like a one-ton weight to the head) that war can only accomplish the total annihilation of the human race. Calling this version “heartbreaking” would be an understatement.
(Thank you
for reading. Well, this was a full weekend, wasn’t it?)
posted by todd gunther | 9:53 AM
7 Comments:
Some of these I remembered, but I'd forgotten about Lennon.
True story: right after Orbison's death, a friend said to me, "How sad. To be blind all your life and then die."
I set her straight.
After I bitchslapped her.
I recall the Big O's death as coming completely out of the blue. It happened after I'd been living in Germany for about six months - and a day or so after the news, in a Cologne cafe reading an appreciation of him in an English newspaper. (My German hadn't yet turned quite as fluent as it was to be a couple of years later). The article I read also made mention of his poignant delivery in "Handle with Care" of the line "I'm so tired of being lonely".
I'm old enough to remember Roy O. from the time he first got noticed. His first hit here, 'Only the Lonely' was in 1960 (a #1 both here and in U.S.A.), though his last Top 20 entry was not that much later, in 1966 - then posthumously there were half a dozen solo hits in 1989/90 (plus the fine duet with k.d.laing of 'Crying') as well as his participation in the short 'shooting star' life of the wonderful 'Travelling Wilburys' - which was doubtlessly a worthy way to cap a worthy life.
Lennon's death I recall with even more clarity though it was nearly a decade earlier. Living then in Oxford, hearing it on the early morning news I just couldn't take it in. Was it a joke, a wind-up? Or what?
It's mixed in with a time when I was just discovering the 'delights' of Amsterdam, and his single '(Just like) Starting Over' had already peaked in the charts (around #10, I think) and was falling out when, after the news, it shot back up to #1 (of course) followed by the release of his higher regarded 'Woman' - both now being played frequently in the Dutch bars at the time, though I wasn't complaining.
Yes, the departure of both these figures did rather leave two biggish holes in my life - and many others too for sure.
How well I remember the shocking news of John Lennon's death. It was almost unbelievable but alas, all too horribly true.
Interesting points: death in art and fascism. I think the Japanese were more corrupted by power than they were fascism. And the world laughing at the Idiot Jerk? We are watching the unraveling of corruption in real time. The straws are running out, and those left are rather short.
I too adore that Lennon Christmas song.
Some times I sway to it and other times it gets me teary eyed. And thanks for sharing the video. I really enjoy this time of year. While many run around nuts, I come to a halt to enjoy it.
I enjoy your history posts.
Thank you Bob for setting one person straight.
Roy O. got a lot of airplay on the "oldies" stations in the 1970's. Thanks for your memories Raybeard.
Thank you Debra. I heard the news on my car radio on the way home from a Christmas party. I had just bought the Playboy magazine with his interview in it a few hours before. I still have that issue.
Thank you, Dave. I only hope we see the warning signs soon.
Thank you Mistress. I'm working on getting into the spirit of the season.
Thank you Spo. There's so much to learn from history.
Post a Comment
<< Home