Friday, June 26, 2009

Gone is that music...

How strange to realise that in the past couple of hours I've heard more Michael Jackson songs than at any other time in my life. I recognise the strange figure of the recent court case against him, and the cheerful child with the prodigious talent and the absurd costumes - so where did the other appearances go? And now, of course, I realise that the cheerfulness on stage was the product of a deprived childhood - deprived of childhood itself.

And in between? All the other stuff that filled my life, I suppose - other music, performing, bringing up a family, teaching, demonstrating, public speaking - and very little room for anything that wasn't my kind of music. But I can remember the effect the star had on the kids I taught - and their amusement at my not knowing why anyone would wear only one glove.

And I suppose what I think of is Elvis, whom I loved from the first movie I was allowed to go to on my own, with friends, without an adult. The movie was King Creole, and I was eleven. I moved on when Elvis changed into the fat freak of the rhinestone suits, but when he died, also too early, I remembered the young singer in denims who first showed my generation what sexy meant. I can still sing all the words of some Elvis numbers, but tonight I realised I couldn't have identified a single song of Michael Jackson's.

Interesting.

6 comments:

  1. Ah, the music of Michael Jackson. I never appreciated it. Or him, for that matter. I watched an interview of him once and was totally freaked out by him. I couldn't understand any of the things he did. But then, how can a man become a man when he had no childhood? Such a sad commentary on fame overtaking one's life. (even before he really got a chance to live)

    Elvis? Never appreciated him, either! For me, it was the Beatles.

    Nowdays, with the "screamo" stuff, I think I would gladly listen to Michael Jackson. Or Elvis...

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  2. By the time the Beatles came along, I was too old, I think - more involved in serious music by then!

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  3. Oh, for me it was the Beatles too, Katya! Swoon. Thud.

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  4. For me it was Elvis.....still is really. I must go and put on a CD!

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  5. Well, I'm so old that it was Nat King Cole and the Ink Spots for me. But I liked the Beatles, because my kids listened and learned. A great pleasure to me still is to hear my daughters (in their 50's) singing "Rocky Raccoon" raucously.

    I found your blog on TIME GOES BY and I like it!

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  6. Hi, 20thCW - thanks for dropping by! Di, I love your new pic!

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