Life is a crazy concept when you really think about it. Without getting too deep on the matter, I find it so fascinating that we are these sentient beings living, breathing and creating with such passion on a rock in the middle of the cosmos.
You’re probably like, “Chloe, what are you talking about?” Well, when I was in my car running errands and singing along to “One of These Nights,” it hit me. We all know that Glenn Frey, one of the masterminds behind the Eagles, passed away this year. And we all know that the world has cried enough due to the passings of multiple music legends in which feels like a series of bad dreams.
However this is no cruel joke that 2016 is playing on the world, it’s simply life doing what it always did. I think George Harrison said it best when he wrote the song “Within You Without You” in 1967. The lyrics that stick with me from this song to this day are – “Life flows on within you and without you.”
No matter what goes on in this life, death is a constant. I know it sucks but there is nothing we can do about it. And yes it’s sad and hard to grasp mentally, but when you think about it the musicians we’ve lost, no matter what year it is, whether it’s 2016 or 1959, they will always live on through their passion, their creativity and their music. When you turn on the radio and listen to Phoebe Snow, she is still alive within her music and within her passion for music. Just because she isn’t with us physically anymore, doesn’t mean she is gone forever.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Joni Mitchell and her health in the past few days and not to say she isn’t doing well and that she’s pulling through just fine. But the concept of losing her shakes me to my core. I keep on thinking, “What will I do? Will I cry until I can’t breathe? Will I lock myself away and listen to Court and Spark for hours on end? Will I simply go numb and refuse to accept it?”
Well to be honest I probably will cry, not until I can’t breathe, but I know a tear will be shed for her legacy and how much she and her music will always mean to me. Like when the world and I cried for Bowie, I will cry for Joni, however I won’t blame the year and it’s “cruel joke,” I won’t blame anyone at all because there really is no one to blame. It’s just life and it will continue revolving around the sun and I will keep moving along with it. But this time with the footprints pressed into our very souls, left behind by countless amounts of brilliant and passionate people.
Now, I know this is a very bleak topic and I’m not saying I know the answers to the universe, because shit, if I did that would be awful. However this whole “blame it on 2016” or “dammit 2016” mentality isn’t a proper way of thinking. We have to accept the fact that life doesn’t go on forever and that it didn’t just start this crazy concept in 2016, it’s been going on for ages. Like Prince wrote –“Life is a party and parties weren’t meant to last.”
I don’t believe for a second however that a brilliant light once snuffed out is out forever. When someone in this crazy world has that much of an impact on the people around them, they aren’t simply gone. Their legacy will continue in a breath, in a voice, a song, a smile, no matter what happens it will live on in some way as energy. Buzzing about from person to person and still living and moving onwards in that respect. That’s what I find truly beautiful about life; it never truly ends and that goes for musicians and everyone else.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, yes, we are losing these brilliant, creative minds and it is sad that they had to leave us. But it isn’t anyone’s fault and there is no one to blame, it is just simply life. So instead of bashing the year of 2016 and those to come, just cherish what these individuals have now or have left behind, cherish them now and constantly be inspired and humbled by them and what they’ve accomplished in the short time they were here. If there is anything that you should take from this article is that you should love deeply and start where they left off and live through them, not just without them.
