I wrote an email this morning, responding to something that had been sent to me, announcing - and I paraphrase - that despite the longevity of the work that he had been personally driving for decades, he has decided that this was indeed - ‘the end’.

I guess it is one of those days, where every where you look, every page you turn emotion takes over and (at least for me), music takes hold.

Because I - and indeed he - are ‘of a certain age’, ‘The End’ came to mind. (If you aren’t of a certain age - I commend you to watch just one (if not all three) of the YouTubes below.) If you are of a certain age - you don’t need me to tell you.

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end

Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I’ll never look into your eyes again

The Full Lyrics

“Every time I hear that song, it means something else to me. It started out as a simple good-bye song… Probably just to a girl, but I see how it could be a goodbye to a kind of childhood."

💬 Jim Morrison

If you want a really good cry, the images most certainly do nothing to distract from the pain of the song …

🎥 Apocalypse Now

If you want to listen to the original recording of nearly 11 minutes that took just 30 minutes of studio time (think about that) …

🎵 The original recording

If you are of the live music persuasion… in the US you had Woodstock. In the UK we had The Isle of Wight

🔗 Live at The Isle of Wight in 1970