FEW of we humans manage to achieve a reputation that lives on after we die.
Those who do get an honoured niche for themselves in the halls of posterity usually haven't striven for it.
They may have striven for art, or justice, or peace, or something else that is noble, but not for personal fame.
There is nothing great in wanting fame for fame's sake - in the way that those desperate saddoes in Big Brother do, for instance.
But anyway ... just what do people need to do make themselves memorable to future generations?
And is it always good to be remembered for one's deeds and creations anyway?
I was thinking about this again following the recent death of Lita Roza, a singer who found great fame in the 1950s.
Lita was the first Liverpudlian to get to number one in the pop charts. What a shame it had to be with "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?" - one of the naffest songs ever to become an international hit.
Poor Lita, she hated that song and for the rest of her career refused to perform it. Good - she had artistic integrity.
Though complete rubbish, the Doggie ditty is undeniably memorable and continues to resonate down through the decades. The man who wrote it, Bob Merrill, took his own life in 1998. One of his other songs was also garbage yet did enormously well - "She Wore Red Feathers and a Hula Hula Skirt".
Merrill clearly had a talent for creating songs that were memorable while also being stupid and banal. I think his modern equivalents as song-writers should do very well now that popular "culture" has dumbed down so much.
Already, I'm sure, there is a huge market for banality and stupidity in contemporary popular music; just consider rap and modern R'n'B. What tat it all is.
Meanwhile, truly talented song-writers, such as Roddy Frame and Steve Forbert, are no longer widely known, though each of them has enjoyed critical acclaim over recent decades and both gentlemen are greatly loved for their songs ... well, at least by smart-arses like me!
One place where claims are being made daily for glory and posterity is, of course, Beijing , currently hosting the Olympics.
At the time of writing this, Great Britain had, somewhat astonishingly, taken third place in the medals table.
Two hollow cheers then - as our country appears to be doing well at something for once. Except that the whole concept of marrying sporting prowess with nationalistic pride is morally repugnant and desperately old-fashioned.
I'm not at all a fan of the games. In so many ways they are flawed and full of corruption.
The Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius, meaning Swifter, Higher, Stronger, says it all. You are encouraging people to feats of incredible physical exertion but for no purpose that can be considered humane, noble, poetic or spiritual.
In various forms, the Olympics are all about running, jumping and pushing for their own sake and are consequently very damaging to the personalities of the athletes.
To be a top athlete these days involves having a single-minded determination to always go swifter and higher or be stronger than the next man or woman. To do that a person must, of necessity, blot out all the other aspects of personal development which makes one a rounded human being - such as humility, gracious acceptance of defeat, humour and the ability to be philosophical about life.
It is no wonder there's so much drug abuse in sport - with so much sad desperation to beat other people at purely physical pursuits. To win at all costs!
Add to all that the rampant commercialism of sponsorship by sports brands, and the way the Olympics are being run by a nation which routinely tramples over human rights, and you have a very ugly spectacle indeed.
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New Brighton Newbie wrote...
Well said Steve, I've never quite understood why people take pride in the successes of others that they have never even met, just because through accident of birth they were born on the same land mass. Pride and shame should be reserved for our own actions and maybe those of close friends/family. Or as I wrote in a poem:
Gold in Bejing
Doesn’t make me proud
I’ve never even met the athletes
For crying out loud!
I wouldn't write-off all rap music music though. Yes the mainstream stuff is all piffle, but have a listen to the better works of Roots Manuva and it holds up well alongside Mr Frame.
REGAN REPLIED: Cheers Newbie. I'll check out Roots. Hey, I'm down with the kidz! What is your blog called, by the way? I tried to see it when you said you'd started it but I failed to call it up.
Posted by: New Brighton Newbie | August 22, 2008 6:05 PM