Thinking About Michael

Andrew Sullivan

"There are two things to say about him. He was a musical genius; and he was an abused child. By abuse, I do not mean sexual abuse; I mean he was used brutally and callously for money, and clearly imprisoned by a tyrannical father. He had no real childhood and spent much of his later life struggling to get one. He was spiritually and psychologically raped at a very early age - and never recovered. Watching him change his race, his age, and almost his gender, you saw a tortured soul seeking what the rest of us take for granted: a normal life.

"But he had no compass to find one; no real friends to support and advise him; and money and fame imprisoned him in the delusions of narcissism and self-indulgence. Of course, he bears responsibility for his bizarre life. But the damage done to him by his own family and then by all those motivated more by money and power than by faith and love was irreparable in the end. He died a while ago. He remained for so long a walking human shell.

"I loved his music. His young voice was almost a miracle, his poise in retrospect eery, his joy, tempered by pain, often unbearably uplifting. He made the greatest music video of all time; and he made some of the greatest records of all time. He was everything our culture worships; and yet he was obviously desperately unhappy, tortured, afraid and alone.
I grieve for him; but I also grieve for the culture that created and destroyed him. That culture is ours' and it is a lethal and brutal one: with fame and celebrity as its core values, with money as its sole motive, it chewed this child up and spat him out."

And Can It Be

The best gospel song.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

(Charles Wesley)

Hey Jude

"You've found her/Now go and get her." The greatest Beatles song ever.

You'll Never Walk Alone

Jordin Spark's performs my life-long anthem. "At the end of the storm is a golden sky/And the sweet silver song of the lark."

You Are My Sunshine

A great song to end the perfect day.

Que Sera Sera

"When I was just a little girl/I asked my mother what will I be?" I like mortifying my kids by singing this delightful Doris Day song. "The future's not ours to see/What will be will be."

A Life on the Ocean Wave

This just makes me just plumb happy. It reminds me of my second grade in a British boarding school where we lisped


A life on the ocean wave,
A home on the rolling deep,
Where the scattered waters rave,
And the winds their revels keep!

Hallelujah, I'm A Bum

Hallelujah, Amen

The Day That Music Died

Fifty years today.

Bruce Springsteen Rocks

E Street Forever

Ragging Shostakovich Symphony Number 5

The Ragging

Dear Mr. President

I consider the following song that Pink performed on the Jimmy Kimmel show Wednesday night one of the finest social protest songs I've heard, equal to be best that Woody and Arlo Guthrie wrote decades ago. It's too bad that the president will never hear it as he has the entire reality-based world on ignore. Here are the lyrics.

"Dear Mr. President" Dear Mr. President, Come take a walk with me. Let's pretend we're just two people and You're not better than me. I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly. What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street? Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep? What do you feel when you look in the mirror? Are you proud? How do you sleep while the rest of us cry? How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye? How do you walk with your head held high? Can you even look me in the eye And tell me why? Dear Mr. President, Were you a lonely boy? Are you a lonely boy? Are you a lonely boy? How can you say No child is left behind? We're not dumb and we're not blind. They're all sitting in your cells While you pave the road to hell. What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away? And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay? I can only imagine what the first lady has to say You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine. How do you sleep while the rest of us cry? How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye? How do you walk with your head held high? Can you even look me in the eye? Let me tell you 'bout hard work Minimum wage with a baby on the way Let me tell you 'bout hard work Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away Let me tell you 'bout hard work Building a bed out of a cardboard box Let me tell you 'bout hard work Hard work Hard work You don't know nothing 'bout hard work Hard work Hard work Oh How do you sleep at night? How do you walk with your head held high? Dear Mr. President, You'd never take a walk with me. Would you?