I woke up on Friday morning to the news that Marvin Lee Aday had passed away.
If you don’t recognize the name – and I confess that I didn’t know the man’s name at the time – then you might recognize his stage name:
Meat Loaf.
There was a time, waaaay back when, this guy sang the Soundtrack of my Life. I could recite to you every lyric of every song he’d sung, although Bat out of Hell took a bit of active remembering on my part.
Full Disclosure: Meat Loaf, collaborated heavily with composer and songwriter Jim Steinman, so when I talk about the songs, I am referring to work of two people, in truth, but it’s Meat Loaf’s voice that plays on the mental Jukebox.
I came to Meat Loaf in reverse order. Bat out of Hell 2: Back into Hell was released in 1993 and it hit me at the best possible time, when I was just getting into the swing of college.
The cd was full of thoughts that hit me like a racing motorcycle:
Music was – and continues to be – a gift. Something that I firmly believe and am perpetually thankful for.
The World is full of magic and possibility and, at any moment, you could turn a corner and lay eyes (or ears) on something so powerful that it changes your life.
The writer I’ve become can look back into the past and see where the first seeds of “Holy Shit, that line! I want to write something like that one day!!” were sown.
And what better time to be shown that the World was OUT THERE and it was yours to discover, than while on the cusp of taking your first tentative steps out into independent adulthood?
And it’s still OUT THERE.
Marvin’s passing stung – it still stings a little. That Friday, I started playing back his discography and I never made it past Bat out of Hell 2. There was so much memory and emotion attached to that music, that I just put it on repeat – much like I did back in the day.
It stings, not only because of the loss of an artist that had such an impact on me. I’m in mourning because, over time…I wouldn’t say I’d forgotten completely about the World that existed in the music – and, indeed, exists in the here and now. Rather, I’d allowed the vibrancy of it to fade. It got muffled by the Meh of the day to day.
No Longer.
I played his music loud on Friday, and I continue to play The Music loud (and Meat Loaf is more frequent in the rotation).
Fair Winds, Marvin Lee Aday/Meat Loaf.
Thank you for your music, and for showing (and then reminding) me that There’s Always Something Magic. There’s Always Something New.
Thanks for reading. Be safe out there. Be Excellent to Each other – and yourself.
I’ll see you on Thursday.
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