Farewell George

[Sledgehead]

 

and one of his own ...

 

[tinker]

Deserves his own thread.

I always think of the lines in Different Corner:
Take me back in time maybe I can forget
Turn a different corner and we never would have met
Would you care?

Always reminds me of... well. Etched on my heart, which is what great songwriters can do.

[SarahBell]

After this he was always Mr Michaels to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcHldSZX99g
 

[winkie]

 

[happy_renting]

1 hour ago, winkie said:

 

Ironic that apparently died in need of a heart.

[winkie]

 

 

RIP George.....a big part of my growing up.

[little fish]

 

 

[Captain Cavey]

Damn it. Thought this was going to be about Osborne 

[JoeDavola]

Heard this on the radio, as a child, in the early 90's when it was released. I can remember exactly where I was when I heard it (in a car with my parents driving down Bloomfield Avenue towards Connswater shopping center). The melody was stuck in my head for 20+ years until I finally searched for it based on a snippet of lyrics that I guessed earlier in the year:

 

[OnionTerror]

 

[The Masked Tulip]

Listening to the BBC and Sky it is as if Ghandi snuffed it yesterday and not George Michael. Sky News has somehow managed to turn his being arrested for cottaging in a Hollywood toilet into some kind of spiritual thing. Apparently the boy could not only do no wrong but everything he did was somehow for the greater good of Humanity.

[happy_renting]

49 minutes ago, JoeDavola said:

Heard this on the radio, as a child, in the early 90's when it was released. I can remember exactly where I was when I heard it (in a car with my parents driving down Bloomfield Avenue towards Connswater shopping center). The melody was stuck in my head for 20+ years until I finally searched for it based on a snippet of lyrics that I guessed earlier in the year:

 

Excellent inclusion of irrelevant detail. Full marks!

[Sledgehead]

Maybe it's cos he never pretended to be Ghandi. Sounds like that ought not to make him exceptional, until  you consider the likes of his compatriots - Sting, Bono, Geldof. Millionaires all telling us how we should live.

Even in Praying for Time he puts himself firmly in the camp of the masses, declaring "I may have too much but I'll take my chances, cos god's stopped keeping score."

Maybe he understood, just like Trump and unlike so many millionaire celebs, that ordinary people have their own concerns and don't respond well to preaching.

He never tried to be a campaigner. He knew he was an entertainer, and he knew it was his responsibility, not to brow-beat us into being good, but to make us feel good. Or for that matter, any number of emotions.

 

[happy_renting]

44 minutes ago, The Masked Tulip said:

Listening to the BBC and Sky it is as if Ghandi snuffed it yesterday and not George Michael. Sky News has somehow managed to turn his being arrested for cottaging in a Hollywood toilet into some kind of spiritual thing. Apparently the boy could not only do no wrong but everything he did was somehow for the greater good of Humanity.

They do seem to be presenting his prosecution as some sort of homophobic persecution, and his reaction to it as heroic.

He wasn't prosecuted for being gay. I have no issue with him or anyone being gay.

Sex with strangers in a public lavatory, not so much.

[JoeDavola]

5 minutes ago, happy_renting said:

Excellent inclusion of irrelevant detail. Full marks!

I know! The only reason I included it was to prove that I can actually remember exactly where I was, it was at the junction just before you get to Connswater, when I heard the chorus of that song for the first time.

Rest in peace, George.

[JoeDavola]

4 minutes ago, happy_renting said:

Sex with strangers in a public lavatory, not so much.

I think that has less to do with being gay (although it's obviously a pre-requisite), and more to do with the thrill seeking risky behaviour of an addict, much like his drug use.

[The XYY Man]

2 hours ago, The Masked Tulip said:

Listening to the BBC and Sky it is as if Ghandi snuffed it yesterday and not George Michael. Sky News has somehow managed to turn his being arrested for cottaging in a Hollywood toilet into some kind of spiritual thing. Apparently the boy could not only do no wrong but everything he did was somehow for the greater good of Humanity.

Wham! once did a gig - and gave all the proceeds to the 1984 Miner's strike fund.

This gesture did not go un-noticed around these parts.

George would've been more than welcome to soap-down the blurks coming off back-shift at my local pit-baths

Though none of the lads would've bent-over to pick the soap up...

 

XYY

                                                                                                               

The dog's kennel is not the place to keep a sausage - Danish proverb

 

 

 

 

[MattW]

I think the hi-camp hit 'Club Tropicana' has a brilliant bassline!

RIP George. Taken far too soon.

[The XYY Man]

32 minutes ago, MattW said:

I think the hi-camp hit 'Club Tropicana' has a brilliant bassline!

RIP George. Taken far too soon.

I made the same argument in a text conversation with Mrs XYY only the other week.

Unfortunately I'd made a typo in my first text - and she didn't really understand anything that I was saying about the song after that.

Thankfully it was all resolved when she realised that in my first text, I'd spelled it "Lub Tropicana" - and all that's missing is the "C"...

 

XYY

 

 

                                                                                                               

The dog's kennel is not the place to keep a sausage - Danish proverb

 

 

[DEATH]

The whole tweet thing of the celebs posting pictures with the deceased pretending they were good friends (and it all being widely reported) is disturbing.

I think James Corden's tweetings got more BBC cover than Andrew Ridgeley's comment.

Seems like a generation is fading away now.

[spunko2010]

For the first time i find myself siding with some leftists in wondering why it's relevant to mention the fact that the man enjoyed anonymous sex with consenting adults in his spare time. Not for me i find public toilets revolting and germ ridden.  But Why is it necessary to mention an incident 20 years ago in his obituary? Even the bbc referenced it until it was removed. Is it not sufficient to mention simply that he was gay?

[little fish]

Kirstie Allsopp told to shut up by Kay Burley for saying same.  

 

Kay BurleyVerified account ‏@KayBurley Dec 26

Kay Burley Retweeted Kirstie Mary Allsopp

Oh do shut up Kirstie.https://twitter.com/KirstieMAllsopp/status/813317381208633344 …

Kay Burley added,

Kirstie Mary Allsopp @KirstieMAllsopp

.@SkyNews reporting of George Michael's death is appalling, far more focus on the "scandal" than the music.

 

• Retweets 81
• Likes 298
• 

9:49 AM - 26 Dec 2016

177 replies 81 retweets 298 likes

 

[Hail the Tripod]

13 minutes ago, spunko2010 said:

For the first time i find myself siding with some leftists in wondering why it's relevant to mention the fact that the man enjoyed anonymous sex with consenting adults in his spare time. Not for me i find public toilets revolting and germ ridden.  But Why is it necessary to mention an incident 20 years ago in his obituary? Even the bbc referenced it until it was removed. Is it not sufficient to mention simply that he was gay?

I imagine it was quite a pivotal moment in his life both personal and public. Certainly it had a massive effect on how he was subsequently treated by the media themselves. 

[Wahoo]

Seems a bit odd that a 53 year old passes peacefully due to heart failure. 

This would normally get treated and normal cardiac rhythms restored.

Also a bit odd it was xmas day.

Drugs?...suicide?...HIV?...sexual activity gone wrong?

I'm not sure I believe the official line. Cardiac failure is treatable and someone with his dosh would be front line for a transplant.

I'm probably wrong....but I think there's a story to come out here.

[ccc]

According to the old net heroin was being used regularly. Who knows.