Unfortunately for child hypochondriac Carolyn Crane, Seasons in the Sun was perfectly intelligible.
I remember the first time I actually listened to it was in the waiting room of an eye doctor's office and it FRIGHTENED THE STUFFING OUT OF ME!
As a child, I was well aware that anybody could get a horrible disease and die; in fact, I obsessed about it frequently, but this song made it a terrifying reality. Lyrics that particularly upset me: Goodbye Papa it's hard to die. Like, this poor fellow is dying, and saying goodbye to his parents? I imagined me having to say goodbye to my parents, my dog. Even my sisters. Or, Goodbye to you, my trusted friend. We've known each other since we're nine or ten. Together we climbed hills or trees. I had friends I played with, too! And like, that would just be over?
I think part of it was the powerlessness. This guy has a horrible disease and none of the adults could help him, as proved by this song.
I don't know where my childhood hypochondria came from--probably a stew of things, but this song definitely made it worse, because it made a little story out of the whole thing that I could imagine myself into. Sometimes it would stick in my head for days and haunt me. I swear, I'm not being flip - it would run in my head and haunt me for days. Some kids had monsters in the closets, the boogie man. I had Terry Jacks.
I'm a lot better now, though obviously I think about it enough that I made my main character in my book a hypochondriac. Oh well, at least I can listen to this song without freaking.
12 comments:
I had the same reaction to that damn song! It's the sort of thing that should have an NC-17 warning on it, goldarnit.
OMG, that is so funny that you did too! Wasn't it HORRIBLE???
Heh. Any other songs we should know about that gives you the willies?
I kid you not, I thought "Blinded by the light" actually said "Blinded by the light, wrapped up like a douche, you know a rumor in the night" until about.. a year ago, actually. It always weirded me out.
When I learned the actual lyrics, I found I like my version better, because I have no clue what the other means..
I'm glad you are much better CJ. Adult hypochondria tough, let alone suffering it as a child. To be haunted by the lyrics from that song must have been awful!
I was never one to look for deep meaning in song lyrics. Maybe that makes me shallow? Hmmm Or, perhaps after decades of work in the medical field I've had to take a more clinical perspective with respect to illness. You've given me something to think about this morning. lol
In retrospect, this was NOT one of my favorite songs as an adult in the 70's, maybe now I know why. See, now you've got me obsessing...
KB: I'm sure there are!!
MG: Oh, funny! I like your version better, too.
Lea: Oh, no! Don't think about that song too hard, that's my advice to you.
This one and 'the night chicago died'...they were out at the same time, yes? And that singing nun with the Our Father song.
The seventies were a scary, scary time for children, CJ.
The song that freaks me out is that Keith Urban song Making Memories of Us. One of the verses says I wanna sleep with you forever / and I wanna die in your arms / in a cabin by a meadow where the wild bees swarm.
DUDE. He's planning a murder-suicide. He's even picked out the exact place! RUN!!! O_O
That was a totally freaky song. It doesn't make me feel better that it was a translation from a french song either! lol
The other song that was totally sad was Shannon by Henry Gross. Holy shit - how many times can a young girl cry about that guys dog, I ask you?
Brilliant post! My towering fear when I was a child was NUCLEAR WAR so my terrifying song was Breathing by Kate Bush. My mum had the Never for Ever album and played it a lot and although it was already a few years old by 1the mid 80s, her playing it a lot seemed to coincide with my massively ratcheting fear about NUCLEAR WAR induced by the terrifying Threads coming out on TV and loads of other things about NUCLEAR WAR like Where the Wind Blows.
Then I grew up and started worrying about how big my arse was instead.
T~ My arse is pretty big too. Is there a song for that?
I was terrified of NUCLEAR WAR too!! My parents hung a poster of an astronaut looking through a bedroom window (does anyone remember that poster?) and I was sure it was kind of portent of doom.
And then I read Z for Zachariah and I thought, really, death was preferable to being the last girl on earth. So I quit worrying about NW.
LB: Scarrrrry!!! I hope we didn't get too warped.
JenB: oh, that should give the kids some wholesome ideas!!
Tracy: OMG!! Shannon! It's about a dog?
T: That is so funny. I was never big on Nuclear War, though that movie, the Day After Tomorrow, freaked me out. NW!
Post a Comment