Two More Gone

Like we baby boomers tend to do, I always pause when notable public figures from my young years die. This is true even if I didn’t like or appreciate their work or their persona. This pause is an inner reaction to the reminder of the passage of time, and is a sort of superficial memento mori.

Yesterday, a pop star and a country star from my youth died on the same day, at the same age. Mac Davis and Helen Reddy, both 78, departed this life. Ms. Reddy was reportedly in a nursing home with Alzheimer’s Disease, and Mr. Davis had recently undergone cardiac surgery.

I was not a fan of Helen Reddy in any sense of the word, but she was for a time almost ubiquitous in pop culture. And she sang the best version of “I Don’t Know How To Love Him,” a hit from the overrated Broadway musical Jesus Christ Superstar, so I can  honestly say I did enjoy listening to some of her music.

Mac Davis was a true favorite of mine. His laconic, smiling presence on his tv show is a happy memory, especially his routine of asking audience members to give him the title or first line of a song, and then he would improvise a song on the spot. Good, safe times.  Mac’s song, “Texas In My Rearview Mirror” was one of those snapshot tunes that, no matter how many times I heard it, I would always stop what I was doing and listen to the entire thing when it came on the radio.

So, in my nostalgia for a time when I was young and easy and full of energy, I’ll say “Rest in peace, Mac and Helen. Thanks for the music.”

~ S.K. Orr