Ashes to ashes

For a variety of reasons, it's been hard for me to get to a computer lately, so I'm behind in blogging. But I can't help joining the rest of the world in reflecting on the death of David Bowie. His music has been like an old friend I don't see everyday but am always glad to encounter.

If you're any like me, sometimes you'll hear a song that will stop you dead in your tracks the first time you hear it. Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" did that. So did Dylan's "Tangled Up in Blue." And so, of course did "Space Oddity."

I think I was in junior high and was hanging out with my cousin and friends in another town at a ball game or some such when a song I later knew as "Space Oddity" came on the radio. I froze. My cousin said, "I can't believe the radio played anything that cool."

I couldn't either. And I'd never heard anything quite like that before.

Though he made it to age 69, it was still too soon. He didn't drift off in space like Major Tom or burn out like Ziggy Stardust or die along a long long time ago like the mane who sold the world. Instead, he worked right up to the end and left quite a legacy.

Requiescat in pace.