Monday 31 January 2011

John Barry is immortal

There are moments like this, you think you are going to blog about something (I had in mind "End of the month, beginning of the week" as a topic) and then the news feeds you something else. So John Barry died. I really admired him as a composer, but more than that, I adore his music. His James Bond score of course. The movies would not have been such classics without his music. I feel speechless in these circumstances, like I was going to give my sympathies to the family members of someone I knew, enjoyed the company of and admired. You just feel dumb. But when it comes to John Barry, or indeed any musician, there is always his music. He composed his own eulogy, better than anybody could have.

I wondered which one of his famous works to put here. I have done so before, things that would have been appropriate for the circumstances. But I thought the theme music for Midnight Cowboy would have the right tone. And if my readers allow me a cliché before I publish this, I will say that John Barry is immortal.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

J'ai adoré le film et la musique ;-)))
J'ai d'ailleurs encore le platine de la musique du film.

Anonymous said...

As sad as his death is he gave the world beautiful music, and so as you say he lives on through his creative legacy. Although any death is hard to come to terms with it gives each of us the opportunity to appreciate our own mortality, and to realise that each moment we waste of our talents, of love, of reaching out, and not appreciating the exquisite world within which we live, are moments we will never get back. If we can use a moment like that to remember these things then death can provide us with an opportunity to celebrate all that is beautiful in life including the music of John Barry.

The Gill-Man said...

Sad news. He certainly added a ton of atmosphere to many, many fantastic flicks!