Obituary – a Haunting Melody
This may seem like a new series, but I want to add insight to three original posts from July 2014. And what does an obituary of sweet Georgia Brown have to do with it?
Simple, her life little remembered resounds in a melody which has always haunted my mind with the futility in death.
הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים אָמַר הַקּוֹהֶלֶת הַכֹּל הָֽבֶל׃
Ecclesiastes 12:8 Masoretic text
Scriptures
Unlike most posts on talkofJESUS.com this first post has no specific scripture. Behind the topic and tune, however, looms a single biblical question:
What is man that You think of him,
And a son of man that You are concerned about him?
Psalm 8:4 NASB20
Solomon addressed it with wisdom in the entire Book of Ecclesiastes.
A Lyrical Question & Haunting Melody
I’ll share some interesting background of the melody I did not know in the year of our Lord 2014, history familiar to my own youth and life stories forgotten by then.
(You can go ahead & play it in the background if you like. A You-Tube version of the original will open here and play while you scroll through all the rest.)
Who is sweet Georgia Brown?
Since I have chosen her obituary as cover for this 3-post series, I owe you some of her interesting background.
For more: (including a picture from 1968) Source - Wikipedia bio Think of it as a brief fitting memorial to one of so many entertainers of the 60's now forgotten in the 21st c.
During her initial performing career as a nightclub singer, she adopted the professional name Georgia Brown with reference to two of her favourite repertoire items: “Sweet Georgia Brown” and “Georgia on My Mind.” After an attempt at a recording career, with three overlooked singles released on Decca Records in 1955, Brown moved into musical theatre..
Brown’s career role was that of Nancy in the musical Oliver!, a role she created in the original 1960 London production. When she first came in to audition for the musical’s author and composer, Lionel Bart, he recognized her as a childhood neighbour, and greeted her as “Lily Klot”.
- On 9 February 1964, she appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show with 18-year-old Davy Jones (pre-Monkees) recreating two scenes from the musical then showing on Broadway.
- This happened to be the same evening that the Beatles made their first live U.S. appearance on the show.
In 1974, Brown married producer Gareth Wigan, with whom she had been involved for at least seven years; the couple married in order to expedite the emigration of themselves and their son Jonathan (then aged six) to the U.S. Brown and Wigan separated in 1979, with their divorce becoming final in 1981 after protracted legal wrangling.
Death
Brown died at the age of 58 in London on 5 July 1992.
Although she had become a permanent U.S. resident and lived in Hollywood, she had flown to London to appear on the bill for a tribute to Sammy Davis, Jr. held that week at the Drury Lane Theatre. Before the date of the tribute she became ill, and underwent emergency surgery to remove an intestinal obstruction at Charing Cross Hospital where she died from complications.
What do the lyrics say?
“Is that all there is,” do they cry out?
Or is their proclamation, “I Did It MY WAY?
The lyricist who wrote these and many more influential songs for entertainment of the 20th century is Jerry Leiber..
“Careful little ears what you hear,” reminds the lyric of the old children’s Sunday school song.
Philosophy or Biblical Truth?
Therefore, your food for thought in this series is wisdom (or lack of it). What do the songs and questions really ask?
Philosophy:
- The study of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning.
- n. A system of thought based on or involving such study.
- n. The study of the theoretical underpinnings of a particular field or discipline.
Philosophy begins from a premise, a presupposition that matter matters more than anything, including the Spirit of God.
Roger@talkofJesus.com
The presumed answer of questions like, ‘Is that all there is?’ is YES.
And, ‘I did it my way,’ presumes NO god and that death of the matter of the body is in fact, the end of it all.
Want to know the philosophy of the music? Read the link above to the lyricist of these songs. Just think of your 'applause' in life as an early song heard at your funeral or a fond memory in your obituary. Is that all there is? No, it's not, says the Lord God. - RH
Original talkofJESUS.com post
For those philosophers among our readers: Don't miss the Victor Frankl link in this post. (We'll talk of Jesus AND Jewish philosophies tomorrow & in a post conclusion from Scripture next Monday, God-willing.)
- CLICK “…Continue reading ” above,
- THEN Ask a question or comment at the end of this post
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Stay tuned from more Summer of 2021 Reruns from talkofJESUS.com
(ditto: Summer 2022 – more to come)
