1981



Mike Bloomfield, 2/6/45 – 5/11/81. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Mike is known as one of the best session guitarists of all time. He played with JJ Cale, John Mayal Elvin Bishop, Dylan, Al Kooper, and others. Although he died of an accidental heroin overdose, Mike was not a heavy drug user – but it only takes one time to OD. He was 37.

Never had the chance to see him play and only found one video and its not that great, the few moments he's on screen are well worth the watch, he was amazing. He was doing heroin and cocaine together, a popular way to die. Tragic.



Bob Marley, ( Robert Nesta Marley ), 2/6/45 – 5/11/81. Born in Niles, Jamaica Bob was best known for bringing Jamaican and reggae music to the rest of the world. He believed that “violence and racism could be fought with music and love”. Bob’s Rastafarian beliefs kept him from seeking early treatment for melanoma and it spread quickly throughout his body. He died of brain cancer. His final words to his son Ziggy were “money can’t buy life”. He was 36.

I hope someone will offer to share their thoughts on Bob Marley here, I don't feel I can do him justice. An icon, a legend, and he died so young.

Bob Marley & The Wailers - One Love - People Get Ready
via FoxyTunes



Harry Chapin, 12/7/42 – 7/16/81. Born in Greenwich Village, New York, Harry was a much loved singer, songwriter and humanitarian. He has two number one hits, Cats In the Cradle and Taxi. Harry died in a car accident but his cause of death was a heart attack. There was on decision made as to which caused the other but its believed that the heart attack caused him to wreck his car. Harry was 38.

Another excellent story teller. Its hard not to be moved when listening to his lyrics. When I hear his song "Taxi" I can see images of the scene in my head, the rain, the woman in the back of the taxi, the recognition of an old lover... Great stuff. In fact it was so great that when he performed it for the first time, on The Tonight Show, Johnny brought him back the very next night for an encore (that was a first, not sure if it ever happened again).

Harry Chapin - Taxi
via FoxyTunes

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I may be wrong, but I'm an old man and remember when Harry died. I don't recall that he "wrecked" his car. Wasn't it that he was rear-ended by a large truck? Been a long time ago, but I've never heard of the heart attack story.

Perplexio said...

Harry's songs were so deeply personal and so many of them told great stories-- stories that often provided some level of social commentary. One of my favorite songs of his is the somewhat more obscure, Mercenaries.

And his song A Better Place to Be reminds me of Edward Hopper's famous Nighthawks painting (my personal favorite painting).

Cinnamon Girl said...

Marley actually died of Melanoma that metastasized from his toe. He refused to have the toe amputated due to his Rasta beliefs.

Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O) said...

The Mayor of Candor Lied is a great tale written by HC. Chapin wrote profound lyrics-he says more in eight syllables than most other songwriters.