‘TOO FAST TO LIVE, TOO YOUNG TO DIE’ (Or, ‘BAD DOG ON A RACETRACK’)

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[6-B, Email reply comin’ real soon. 

But "now here's something we hope you'll really like":]

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Well, this definitely isn’t political. It might be Spiritual. But, for now anyway, let’s just go with commercial. Yeah, a “product review” – that’s the ticket!

Some years ago, I purchased the 2-CD set ‘THE VERY BEST OF THE EAGLES’ for my brother, Napoleon, an Eagles fan.

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In the accompanying booklet it says this:

‘JAMES DEAN’

Glenn Frey: ...as ‘Desperado’ became a concept album with an Old West theme, “James Dean” got shelved. When it came time to do ‘On The Border’, we got “James Dean” right off the shelf and said, “Let’s finish this.” I always thought the best line in “James Dean” was “I know my life would look alright if I could see it on the silver screen.” You just don’t get to do that.

Don Henley: I sat there and listened to the guys talk about James Dean. They had evidently studied him and knew much more about him than I did. I had seen most of Dean’s movies, but I somehow missed the whole icon thing. The mythology never quite reached my part of East Texas, but I pitched in and ended up with a writing credit...

We’ll be getting back to The Eagles pretty soon in a (pretty soon) future ‘BATTLE OF THE BANDS’ blog bit. But for now, let’s just see what “Cool Personified” looks like:

James Dean At Race Track

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCsFwXvvHjs

Have you ever seen anyone look so cool (even in eyeglasses)?!

Oh yeah, life goes on

Long after the thrill of livin' is gone

Oh yeah, life goes on

Long after the thrill of livin' is gone

They walk on...

Jackie sits back, collects his thoughts for the moment

Scratches his head and does his best James Dean

"Well, then, there, Diane, we oughta run off to the city."

Diane says, "Baby, you ain't missin' nothing."

~ John “Cougar” Mellencamp

‘Jack & Diane’

The line "...does his best James Dean, `Well, then, there...'" was actually taken from a James Dean movie. I was watching REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and James Dean says to Sal Mineo on some mansion stairs, "Well, then, there...." EXACTLY as John Mellencamp says them in this song.

- Susan

Toronto, Canada

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3829

Let’s hear it for the woman in Canada!

"Well, then, there, now..."

~ James Dean

‘Rebel Without a Cause’

For those who didn’t realize it... I was ALWAYS “doing my best James Dean”:

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It’s too small to see clearly in the photo above, but I have a square, black and white pin on my black leather jacket. It’s a publicity photo of James Dean and Julie Harris from the movie ‘East Of Eden’. My acting buddy Martin Brumer, who was killed by a car thief in 1989, made that pin for me. He cut the photograph out of a magazine and glued it onto piece of square cardboard and attached a pin to the back of it. I wore that handmade gift on my jacket for years.

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Although I eventually donated the jacket to Goodwill, I still have the pin:

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~ Stephen T. McCarthy

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