Great music from 1971! This is the original version from Gilbert O’Sullivan. Dig that hair. My hair used to look a lot like that, or more like Tony Orlando from Dawn actually. Everybody laughs when they see it now but really long hair on men was a big deal back on this days. My hair was very curly and it was near Jewfro but not quite. More like this guy’s. Women and girls went nuts over long hair back then, especially long curly hair. They were always grabbing me and trying to rub their fingers through it “just to see what it feels like.” Yeah sure.
Apparently the song is about suicide, death and other things, but I never knew that until today.
I always just thought it was a great song, just a sad song is all. But so what? Some of the best music is sad, face it. Life’s half sadness anyway, and that’s on a good day. Don’t believe me? Ask any Buddhist. They figured this out a long time ago.
Once you figure out that some of the beauty of life is in its gloriously catastrophic sadness, now you’ve got it. There’s the road to Satori, stretching out right in front of you. All you gotta do is take that first step. Come on, you can do it. Don’t be chicken.
Take a deep breath and dive right into the black fathomless pool of life. Who knows what’s down there? Who knows if you will come up or not? Who cares?
Just say, “The Hell with it and I’m going to do this anyway. If I die, I die, ok, so be it.”
This is one of the secrets to life. You have to keep diving into that pool over and over, dammit.
Otherwise you will never live. You will have one foot in the grave your whole life until someone shoves you all the way in to that very familiar hole of yours at the end. Death-in-life is no way to live. Why be a Zombie? Look around you. The world’s full of them anyway.
Choose life, dammit! Dive in! Live dangerously!
Here’s the lyrics.
In a little while from now
If I’m not feeling any less sour
I promise myself
To treat myself
And visit a nearby tower
And climbing to the top
Will throw myself off
In an effort to
Make it clear to who
Wants to know
What it’s like when you’re shatteredLeft standing in the lurch
At a church
Were people saying,
“My God, that’s tough
She stood him up
No point in us remaining
We may as well go home”
As I did on my own
Alone again, naturallyTo think that only yesterday
I was cheerful, bright and gay
Looking forward to
The brutal new
The role I was about to play
But as if to knock me down
Reality came around
And without so much
As a mere touch
Cut me into little pieces
Leaving me to doubt
Talk about
God in His mercy
Oh, if he really does exist
Why did he desert me
In my hour of need
I truly am indeed
Alone again, naturallyIt seems to me that
There are more hearts broken in the world
That can’t be mended
Left unattended
What do we do?
What do we do?
Alone again, naturallyLooking back over the years
And whatever else that appears
I remember I cried
When my father died
Never wishing to hide the tears
And at sixty-five years old
My mother God rest her soul
Couldn’t understand
Why the only man
She had ever loved had been taken
Leaving her to start
With a heart so badly broken
Despite encouragement from me
No words were ever spoken
And when she passed away
I cried and cried all day
Alone again, naturally
Alone again, naturally