Paradise by the CD Light

We've lost so many greats in the past couple of weeks, and rock n'roll heaven has received some new inductees.  One of the latest is Marvin (later changed to Michael) Lee Aday, who went professionally by a childhood nickname, Meat Loaf.  I'll get to him in a moment.

One of my Facebook friends, Onyx, commenting on all the recent deaths, posted this:

"Meatloaf, Louie Anderson, Bob Saget, Betty White, I’m reading all these posts from fellow actors/musicians and they all describe them lovingly, big hearts, kind, funny, nice guys, humanitarian, loving, great to work with, amazing.

Now, were these people perfect? Not by a long shot! Had flaws, did things that hurt others occasionally, had some regrets? Of course! But here is my point, not one person has mentioned any of those things, instead they mention, the love, the humor, the impact, the music, the light in the darkness.

The point is, those things we think disqualify us in life, those things we beat ourselves up over, those mistakes we fear will linger……at the end of our lives, what will matter is how we loved. It’s okay to make mistakes and be flawed just love others and make them feel like they matter. That’s the legacy these people left. It’s the legacy we can all leave."

We are all human.  We've all done things which are wrong. We've sometimes wronged others.  None of us are perfect, but if we have given much more love than we have received, and improved our world even a little, we have lived a good life.  

The greatest compliments we can pay another person comes within their lifetime, but many times the compliments come after the person died.

Tomorrow, I will be participating in Music Moves Me, a Monday music group. Our theme for tomorrow will be "Pick songs that pay a compliment to your readers, for National Compliments Day."

Since I already wrote tomorrow's post, I want to feature, for my Sunday post, a short tribute to the singer/actor Meat Loaf, who died Thursday at the age of 74.  

 This obituary will give you some facts about his life and accomplishments.

Here are two of his greatest hits. First, "Paradise By the Dashboard Light" from his 1977 album "Bat Out of Hell". I can still remember the first time I heard this song, and I thought "This song is something special!" It wasn't just because I was a Yankees fan from around 1961-1965, and the song has some clips from the late Yankees shortstop and broadcaster Phil Rizzutto.  Holy cow!  It also has Todd Rundgren on guitar and two members of  the E Street band on drums, and keyboard/piano.

The song is sung by a man (as an adult) who makes a vow in the heat of teenaged passion and lives up to it despite all the pain it causes. What could have been a cheap few minutes is turned into something much more, especially when we hear from the girlfriend, who stops Meat Loaf as he rounds third base with her voice.  And what a duet results. The part was sung by Ellen Foley on the recording, and Karla DeVito in concert.

The other song for today is "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" from his 1993 album "Bat Out of Hell II" but I'm going with a live version. People have been wondering what "that" is since 1993. 

I hope you will join me again tomorrow for more music.