One of the unwritten rules for the Friday Night feature is that I don’t repeat an artist, but since it’s unwritten and since I unwrote it, I can break it any time I like. In any event, I’m running out of artists, though I’ve never, so far as I can recall, posted anything with the first Elvis, and probably never will.
This comes to mind because I’ve begun drawing inspiration from the obituaries. As people die, one must pay tribute, or, in rare cases, refuse to do so for the truly undeserving. So, this week, the good Elvis returns, giving Margaret Thatcher her due. I personally am not a fan of the tendency to give a pass to the evil dead and I’m glad that Elvis got his wish.
Annette Funicello also left us this week. For those of us of a certain age she was an icon, though by the time she was 25 she was already a relic of a more innocent (in some ways) age. She may not live in the collective memory as long as Thatcher, and she may not have had the same impact as Maggie, but she compares well. She didn’t make the world any worse, and for some at least, made it a tiny bit better, and from all I’ve read, she endured her multiple sclerosis with grace and dignity. If you were there at the time, and the right age, I doubt you can watch this clip without tearing up. If not, you’ll just marvel at the naiveté, I suppose.
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