RIP Wacko Jacko (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)

I was fast asleep today morning when mom woke me up and said, “Your friend has died.” “My friend?”, I was surprised. She then broke the news to me, “Michael Jackson is dead”. I was shocked. Words fail to express my emotion when I heard it. Of course my mom was joking when she said my friend had died. She was also among the countless other people who have always ridiculed MJ. But she was right, Michel Joseph Jackson was my friend, and he WILL be my friend, always, for years to come. Not just to me, but to everyone who loved him.

People have always given MJ  hard time. They called him a paedophile, a faggot, a weirdo. But not one soul can deny that he was and is and always will be the King of Pop. Controversy may have been his middle name but when it comes to talent there are so very few who could be paralleled to the maestro.  As long as I can remember the only true interpretation of his life, at least in my opinion was the South Park episode ‘The Jeffersons’. An obvious parody of MJ, the show portrayed him not as a uncaring child rapist but as a man who only wanted to give children a happy life, something that he was denied as a child.

MJ was an inspiration for millions of people around the world. He was an icon for the black community, long before Barack Obama. Here in India, where films are only about ‘song and dance’, any song is incomplete without one of Jacko’s famous moves. The first MJ video I ever saw was ‘Thriller’ where he dances as a zombie. I wish he would dance his way back from the real world of the dead now.

He was only 50 when he left us. Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, John Lennon and now Michael Jackson. Why do all great entertainers have to die young? Perhaps God wants a piece of their magic too. Cliched, but that may well be truth. We’ll miss you Jacko. RIP

Here is one of my favorite MJ songs.

The most inspiring track ever – Summer of 69 (Lyrics)

Bryan Adams is easily one of the best rock musicians ever. 18 till I die, Everything I do, Please forgive me – Songs that are unparalleled. But my favorite songs happens to be the best among the best – Summer of 69. The song which was released in 1984 as part of his Billboard no.1 album Reckless never fails to inspire anyone. Everytime my mood is down, this is the song I listen to. Maybe its the nostalgia, the good ol’ times, or probably its just the fun element of the song. The lyrics, the music, the video, everything about the song is par excellance. Whatever be it, Summer of 69, this song helps my spirits up and running. Whoever said Canadians are shite? Here are the lyrics and also a video of this amazing piece of art.

I got my first real six-string
Bought it at the five-and-dime
Played it ’till my fingers bled
Was the summer of 69

Me and some guys from school
Had a band and we tried real hard
Jimmy quit and Joey got married
Shoulda known we’d never get far

Oh when I look back now
That summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice
Yeah – I’d always wanna be there
Those were the best days of my life

Ain’t no use in complainin’
When you got a job to do
Spent my evenin’s down at the drive-in
And that’s when I met you yeah

Standin’ on your Mama’s porch
You told me that you’d wait forever
Oh and when you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life
Back in the summer of 69

Man we were killin’ time
We were young and restless
We needed to unwind
I guess nothin’ can last forever – forever, no,yeah

And now the times are changin’
Look at everything that’s come and gone
Sometimes when I play that old six-string
I think about you, wonder what went wrong

Standin’ on your Mama’s porch
You told me that it’d last forever
Oh when you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life, oh yeah
Back in the summer of 69,uh-huh
It was the summer of 69,o yeah, me n my baby in 69
It was the summer, the summer, summer of 69