I watched Bohemian Rhapsody (Rami Malek’s performance as Freddie Mercury is awesome) last week with my daughter and loved it! I was never a huge Queen fan, but now I am.
Mary Oliver died the next day, and she was someone I’d always read and admired. For some reason, I can’t stop thinking about the two of them – their bravado and generosity with their work. They both ventured out of the comfort of their lives into the public through their imagination and will, creating new identities with all the courage that entails.
Nick Cave writes about the difference between AI creating music (applies to all art I think) as opposed to an actual person here. I love his explanation.
Here’s a link to the original Queen set at Live Aid in 1985.
My daughter had a lot of questions about AIDS after the movie, and I realized the horror of AIDS in the 1980’s might not be something she will study in history class at school. I just read the novel The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai which I highly recommend. She tells a story from that time period, and it broke my heart – in the best way!!
The Journey by Mary Oliver
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
‘Mend my life!’
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognised as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save.
Bohemian Rhapsody by Freddie Mercury
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
Because I’m easy come, easy go
A little high, little low
Anyway the wind blows, doesn’t really matter to me, to me
Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he’s dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now I’ve gone and thrown it all away
Mama, oh oh
Didn’t mean to make you cry
If I’m not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters
Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine
Body’s aching all the time
Goodbye everybody I’ve got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama, oh oh (anyway the wind blows)
I don’t want to die
Sometimes wish I’d never been born at all
I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouch, Scaramouch will you do the Fandango
Thunderbolt and lightning very very frightening me
Gallileo, Gallileo, Gallileo, Gallileo, Gallileo, figaro, magnifico
I’m just a poor boy and nobody loves me
He’s just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity
Easy come easy go will you let me go
Bismillah, no we will not let you go, let him go
Bismillah, we will not let you go, let him go
Bismillah, we will not let you go, let me go
(Will not let you go) let me go (never, never let you go) let me go (never let me go)
Oh oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no
Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let me go
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me for me for me
So you think you can stop me and spit in my eye
So you think you can love me and leave me to die
Oh baby can’t do this to me baby
Just gotta get out just gotta get right outta here
Oh oh oh yeah, oh oh yeah
Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me
Anyway the wind blows
I read this one after the most recent (Badass Women) and it made both the poem and the lyrics even more powerful.
“and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognised as your own,
that kept you company”
I never thought I would be someone to understand this in a very deep way. But I am. And there it is.
xo
Yes totally missy “Determined to do the only thing you could do – determined to save the only life you could.” ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
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