X-Message-Number: 24469
Date: Thu, 05 Aug 2004 06:24:14 -0400
From: Steven Lacher <>
Subject: Music as a discussion topic
References: <>

My fellow Cryonetters....
    Someone in one of the last digests had responded to another poster 
about this thread about music being off-topic.  I have to chime in and 
agree that it most assuredly is NOT off-topic.  I don't know about the 
rest of you, but I'm not a cryonics researcher, or bioscientist, or the 
like.  I'm simply a "bracelet-wearing" cryonicist, and one of the 
reasons I participate in Cryonet is to know other folks like me, as 
people.  I'm here to learn from others, to share, and to question 
things.  I don't post much, but when I do, you'll find it's generally 
over social or emotional issues.  I think that there's a whole series of 
extra joys and challenges to being a cryonicist, and it's never a bad 
idea to explore them together.  And, as a wise member of the list did 
already observe, we do have our delete keys and scroll bars to carry us 
past topics in which we do not wish to participate.
    As one of my favorite authors, Spider Robinson says, "Shared pain is 
lessened. Shared joy is increased. Thus do we refute entropy."  Having 
said that, music is certainly a powerful tool in influencing others. It 
can do as much harm as help.  The one song that comes to mind when I go 
looking for cryonics related music is James Taylor's "The Frozen Man.".  
In it the "hero" of the song, William James McPhee is accidentally 
frozen when he falls over the side of a ship into frigid waters.  When 
he is revived however many years later, his wife and child are long 
dead, and the medical technology used to revive him and give him 
prostethic limbs makes him scary to look at.  It's a VERY negative 
message.  (It's a shame, because it's really an amazingly pleasant song 
to listen to -- and even though I don't agree with the message of it, I 
do enjoy listening to the song.)

--wishing you a long life
--Steven Lacher

ps -- Here's the lyrics to the song.
The Frozen Man
(James Taylor)

Last thing I remember is the freezing cold
Water reaching up just to swallow me whole
Ice in the rigging and howling wind
Shock to my body as we tumbled in
Then my brothers and the others are lost at sea
I alone am returned to tell thee
Hidden in ice for a century
To walk the world again
Lord have mercy on the frozen man

Next words that were spoken to me
Nurse asked me what my name might be
She was all in white at the foot of my bed
I said angel of mercy I'm alive or am I dead
My name is William James McPhee
I was born in 1843
Raised in Liverpool by the sea
But that ain't who I am
Lord have mercy on the frozen man

It took a lot of money to start my heart
To peg my leg and to buy my eye
The newspapers call me the state of the art
And the children, when they see me, cry
I thought it would be nice just to visit my grave
See what kind of tombstone I might have
I saw my wife and my daughter and it seemed so strange
Both of them dead and gone from extreme old age
See here, when I die make sure I'm gone
Don't leave 'em nothing to work on
You can raise your arm, you can wiggle your hand
And you can wave goodbye to the frozen man

I know what it means to freeze to death
To lose a little life with every breath
To say goodbye to life on earth
To come around again
Lord have mercy on the frozen man
Lord have mercy on the frozen man

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