Just as I typed that title, I heard Bill & Ted talking to the very man on the telly in the next room.
I’m sure that Death must have been a regular spectre looming over the posts on this blog, and he seems particularly present as I return to it after another long absence.
Read on to find out why, and whether it might have anything to do with my next book.
Well, this is still (to some small degree, at least) a stroke-adjacent blog. And, one doesn’t emerge from an apparently catastrophic stroke without being affected by the proximity of The Grim Reaper.
More pertinently, my father died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease and various other maladies at the beginning of May. The whole time had been a testing one, and something I noticed when he passed was that I had kind of pre-grieved for the man he had previously been.
Examining the strangeness of this sensation gave rise to what I think might be some interesting writing. This arose not least from the fact that I was listening to Scott Walker’s musical interpretation of Bergman’s The Seventh Seal as I drove to the hospital, having received the call that I would want to be there as soon as I could.
That piece of writing I have in mind probably won’t make its way into print until 2026, given what’s going to be coming out in the meantime.
What’s coming out in the meantime should hopefully include at least one book of work united by the theme of Death – or, more pertinently for sales pitch purposes, LIFE.
British comedy duo French & Saunders look very pleased to hear about that, but you can rest assured that it’s not time to talk about it yet.
However, anyone who’s interested to hear about something that I might have rustled together recklessly quickly can pop along to Scotland’s first Democratic Prose Slam at the Lost In Leith Bar this Sunday.
Here’s hoping I don’t die a death!!! (You will with gags like that – Ed.)
First!!
Hey glad the blog is back. And can’t wait to read your new stuff. And now I have new music by a person named walker to check out!!!
and last and always
Scott 4, the album that includes The Seventh Seal (and The Old Man’s Back Again off of the MailChimp distribution), is the sort of record that the writer in one’s life who aspires to write decent, but not great, poetry would enjoy.
Tilt, on the other hand, is the sort of album that I’d expect the composer in one’s life who has an interest in European avant-garde and experimental elements, as well as the lieder and art song traditions,(1) to enjoy.
So sorry to hear about the passing of your father. Best wishes to you and your family.
A good friend and co-worker of mine passed away in 2003. Music certainly helped me cope with the loss. The first thing I did when I went home after hearing the news was to listen to Automatic for the People. My intuitive self chose that album without any premeditation or conscious effort. It just happened.
Thank you, my friend. Good to hear from you; my best to you and yours, too.
Your intuitive self did a good job selecting Automatic for the People, I’d say. I’d never really been that familiar with its background, other than it being a top-tier R.E.M. album.
I’ve been doing Richard Shaw’s various #5albums polls for a while, and through this systematic review of the albums of the past 60+ years I could make a plausible case that four of my favourite albums at time of writing are expressly concerned with death – in this case, the death of the artist making the album: Purple Mountains; American IV; Blackstar; You Want It Darker.
Mr/Ms Death’s one helluva muse, I guess/hope!