Eoin Butler: writer, journalist and Mayoman of the Year
Tripping Along The Ledge
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MR BOJANGLES (1968)
It’s almost 3am as I sit down to write. I became an uncle for the first time today, and have just returned from toasting the birth of my niece. No doubt, by the time anyone gets around to reading this, Michael Jackson will already have been eulogized far beyond my meager power to add or detract. If you weren’t a child of the 1980s, it’s impossible to exaggerate the extent to which this man’s outrageous talent captivated a generation. There is no contemporary equivalent. No one even comes close.
As an entertainer, in the modern era, his only peers were Elvis, Sinatra and the Beatles. Half a dozen or so of his songs might be appropriate to post her to mark his passing. Somewhat perversely, I’ve chosen a song he didn’t write and never performed, but which I think sums up his later years. Like Mr Bojangles, Jackson’s failings were human failings. But his talent was divine.
June 26th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Has there ever been three more brilliant minutes than this in the history of pop music?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt9TUy0_GiM
June 26th, 2009 at 10:50 am
No, there probably hasn’t
June 26th, 2009 at 11:26 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEU9Q8NlOiY
I remember Simon Young playing this on the Beatbox back in the day and saying afterwards, “For anyone listening in on 2FM… those last two mintues must have been pretty weird!!”
June 26th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
When most artists slapped together some singing heads or soulful searching in bad weather, Jackson produced mini-movie opuses of dance, culminating in the twelve minute marathon of Thriller.
At the end he reminded everyone he was still King, selling out a 50 date concert set and a death that brought the media to a hysterical stand-still and shut down large sections of the internet.
That and the man could Moonwalk.
June 27th, 2009 at 4:20 am
I was 4 in 1990 but Michael still had a huge impact on me musically growing up.
Those dance moves! He has made every single guy on a dancefloor since seem stiff.
The most important pop songs from the past 30-odd years came from this astonishing individual.
Biggest cultural icon of my lifetime and many other people’s too I am sure.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:26 am
[…] the first time today, and have just returned from toasting the birth of my niece. No doubt, by. Go to Source Related Posts:Pulaski County Bojangles robbed – WSLSFairlawn Bojangles robbed Thursday night – […]
July 24th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
[…] niece Lola was born the same day Michael Jackson died. I’m still secretly hoping that, by some cosmic accident, she may have inherited some of […]