Only The Good Die Young!

There is a song out that reminds me daily of the world we live in and one of the truths we live with. That Song is called, Only The Good Die Young by Billy Joel. In many ways it is a honest story of the ones who pass away, who had so much good to them, that we shall miss them forever,it also reminded me at the time it gave out of the possibilities of those I love most dying.
My Personal experience with people dying has always been with them going younger than they should, what about you?
I lost my Grandfather on mom’s side, at 71 years old to cancer. I lost my Grandmother on the same side at 64. Gone but not forgotten at least by me. As time rolled on I lost My father, real one at 55 years old cancer, my step-father at 59 years old cancer, my mother 60 years old cancer. yes I know what it means when they say only the good die young because it has happened to those i care about in my life many times.
Recently, a few years ago now,The first girl I ever kissed died also at around 60 years old too. She had lived since the age of 16 with ovarian cancer, and still managed to give birth to two sons and marry twice. She lived a quiet but happy life, with her music and cats and boys, in run down apartments and practical poverty, and never complained, she always smiled and had a good word for all she met or spoke to. So Yes, the good do die young, if you want proof take a look at history.
John F. Kennedy, John Lennon, Then head to Otis Redding, Harry Chapman and Jim Croce. Many artist who could sing, create and entertain went you too, Jim Morrison, Elvis Presley, for a few more, so you see my point here.
Many of them died without knowing the effect their presence made upon the world and society. It seems to me that the Song had some truth to it in many ways.
While some of the best songs ever written fade from memories across America and the world, every now and then, some come flying back, for they are now called classics, as new artist, like those on The Voice attempt to hit stardom and fame. I was watching the Voice recently when a singer came on in the try out or auditions and slowly sang Jim Croce’s Time in a Bottle. It reminded me, that it is another truth in a song, for none of us can save Time in Bottle, even if we wish to and make it go on forever, for time does march on.
A good point about this is also seen and realized in the case of Jim Croce, who died in a plane crash. This man played music and had so many hits it was crazy, yet, he never experienced his fame, he never lived to feel it. Yet today his songs like Time in a Bottle. Operator, Bad Bad Leroy Brown, and others can be heard all over the radio and still hit a chord today in 2018.
Harry Chapman is another artist, singer, songwriter, who died young and hit with many wonderful songs back then, but never really lived long enough to enjoy his fame. Taxi, The Sequel to Taxi,WOLD, and more come out of Harry and live to this day, and still make people sing along or sway in their chairs or on their feet.
I know, many will say where am I going with this, well,my thing is that many will not remember, a lot of people who were here before us. Traditions like memories fade from the world like those who do die young. We no longer listen to record, they went from records, to 8-tracks and cassettes, to CDs and now everything is digital. The sound and voices of the past can be heard digitally now, clear and remastered, some should listen to them. You would learn tricks of the trade if you did, and hear some of what i call the best music in the world. Yes when I talk about artists who died young, I also include country music greats, Jim Reeves, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and others whose voices, songs and lyrics shall never die, no matter how old they get.
I can’t save Time in a Bottle folks, I can’t take a Taxi to heaven or remember my old friends that way anymore. I am getting older, the mind forgets over time. As I age, I look back at the Motown stars and Janis Japlin and more, being 62 going on 63 in January myself,I prefer to remember the men and women who sang and made songs you could sing with it and dance to. To me, if you can’t understand the words to a song and hear the voice above the music, then it’s just noise, I have to know what they are singing, understand it and agree with them, to love it.
I don’t know how many more years I will live, for I too have been hit by cancer, I had Lung Cancer and survived it in 2013. My wife has been struggling with breast cancer since 2006. Cancer follows me around I think, so I have to wonder how many more years I have left. But don’t place me in the group with the above named individuals folks, for they died young, I am still here. I don’t play music or write songs, but I do Play songs as a Dj online in a program called Second Life, that was created by Linden Labs.I enjoy my music and I think many I play it for online do too. Music moves the soul, helps to heal the heart and soothes the savage beast. So I DJ for fun, for the joy of other liking the tunes I play and in the end I think it works. Music is magical in many ways, from the Classics, to Country, to Jazz and The Blues, to Rock and Roll, music is really a gift that is sent to us through special individuals who can perform and sing it. Yet like all of us who are human, we all know the truth, and yes it is what Billy Joel sang and still does at times, Only The Good Die Young!