The day I died was the best day of my life

No, it's not a theme week, here. My friend Louise posted this video and I love it.  I love it because the British accent is so strong and you know how I love my Brits and British culture.  "Chuffed." "Top deck" of the bus. "Hay-ed" instead of "hated".  I love that he mentions Wheetabix.  I love this style of music best of all music, kind of island-beat, and I love how they are enjoying making music together.  I love how he chuckles a bit and smiles when he talks about loving his wife.  I love how they smile at each other and have a relaxed vibe.  The singer seems like a sweet guy who makes the family breakfast like a good man.  And I love that he sings 99 Red Balloons at the end. (Because that song is super awesome.)

And clearly, the moral of the song is to not buy cigarettes and a 6-pack because then you'll be so distracted with your evil purchase that you will not notice oncoming traffic.

Daily Gratitudes?

DON'T EVEN ASK.

Comments

[Gabrielle Valentine]

Okay, so I'm adding these guys to my playlist. Unless this is a personal video. @ me the details so I can google them!

[Natasha]

Just click on the video and it takes you to You Tube and you'll see that their name is Just Jack.

[Katie K]

Loved it!! Maybe if you name your kid Jack they'll grow up to be a cute guy singer that can sing acoustic, island music. My nephew is Jack, when he get's older I'll get us front row tickets to his show. ;)

(I think his dad (my bro) and mom named him after Jack Johnson. My brother introduced me to Jack Johnson years ago, and they played him at their wedding ceremony instead of traditional music.)

Uh, I just realized, that might not be the singer's name at all. I just assumed. :)

[JulesD]

I couldn't hear the vocals on the first part at all... and even after listening twice, can only make out some of the words through the rest of it. Sounds nice though, if a little odd.

[JulesD]

Apparently all of you have better hearing then I do!!

[Natasha]

Ya, I assumed so too. He is kinda cute.

[Natasha]

I'll transcribe, Luv.

Drag myself from my bed about twenty past six.  Get my kids up, make breakfast: 1 egg, 2 toast, 3 Wheetabix.  And as I sit down I look up and you're standing in the doorway sun at your back in my old brown dressing gown. Well, no one could love you more than I love you now. But I gotta go, running for the bus, coat flying and I'm trying not to miss it this time but the driver's waiting and that's strange. Kids on the top deck quiet for a change. And there's no rain and no road works in the bus lane and all my hurts run away. And I'm smiling as I'm punching in.

The day I died was the best day of my life. The day I died was the best day of my life. So, tell my friends and my kids and my wife that everything's gonna be alright. The day I died was the best day of my life.

Now the secretaries they got a smile for me and the intray on my desk's almost empty and I get a memo from executive Joe saying Rob the Gob is getting kicked out for embezzeling funds from the company account and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't chuffed 'cause I always hated Rob and now they'll probably offer me Rob's old job.

And in the park at lunch there's no winos on my favourite bench. None of that drunk chat and none of that pissy stench ["greasy" in the edited version]. And the scrawny pigeons with the gammy legs decide to dine from someone else's sandwich instead and there's something about the city today like all the colours conspire to overwhelm the grey.  And this close to the fire I can feel no cold, but a rainbow halo around my soul.

[Chorus]

So, I leave work get to the high street and I miss my bus. Should I wait for another? No, I can't be arsed. I begin to walk and rush hour crowd seem to part like the Red Sea and I'm stopping at the offie (offy?)-- 20 cigarettes and a six-pack to relax me. And as I cross back over the street, I guess I never saw that taxi.

[Then the 99 red balloons part]"

I like this song's lyrics because he's just talking about a regular day. Nothing much special except for Rob, the skeevy scheamer getting fired, a good thing for everyone but Rob, and he might get promoted to Rob's job. Otherwise, it's a day with his kids and Wheetabix and his wife looking schlumpy (probably) in his housecoat and he's never loved her more than that schlumpy moment, and people are thoughtful and smiley and the world seems good and colourful and life worth living, and he has a sandwich uninterrupted and he's looking forward to chillaxin' at home and... then he dies. Which sucks. BUT, the point is that he died happy and he didn't die happy because he was a movie star hanging out on a luxury yacht, he didn't even sound like he had some sexy high-powered job.  He had a regular life and he was able to find the beauty in the small, everyday bits and he died happy.

Don't we hope we all die happy, not seeing death coming?  And wouldn't we want our loved ones to know that we were happy and they shouldn't be afraid to carry on without us and be happy without guilt and have faith that everything will be alright? 

I like how he doesn't just say "Tell my wife and my kids I'll be alright" but his friends too.  Because friends are family too.

[JulesD]

Thank you for the transciption! I think I'm becoming hard of hearing!

I see your point now about how it was just a beautiful ordinary day. I can understand and agree with that, and that he's just an ordinary person, like most of us. It is very well written, indeed. Very poetic.

I still find it odd somehow though. It may have been his best day, but it's his wife and kids' worst, so I guess I have trouble matching the two scenarios of the his best and their worst with the happy tune. I suppose I'm being a glass half empty kind of person today. I must be tired. :-)

[Natasha]

No, I see your point, for sure. Jude said to me, "An artistic choice." He didn't like the morbid mention of death.



I look at the whole song as a message about how we're all alone, really.  We are all born, we all die and we all live our lives and choose our perceptions.  Yes, he dies but then his wife and kids and friends all have their own lives to live and they will get over the pain, hopefully, and when they die, hopefully they can say the same thing that it was the best day of their lives.

[Katie K]

Yeah, not to sound overly morbid, but I am looking forward to death (not afraid of it at all). Not in the "I'll help it happen sooner" way, but I am excited to experience the freeing, all encompassing love that I am sure is coming my way! I totally get what he is saying.

Yes, the people still here will be sad. But like you said, N, they will get their day(s) to bask in the love.

(However, I do have ways that I would prefer not to die.... I just haven't given them much thought. Definitely not interested in going in a violent way.)

[JulesD]

Aaaahhh, light bulb moment... I think one, of many, things that would bias one's (or rather my) perception of this song is a person's religious beliefs and beliefs of what happens when one dies. I can't believe I missed this earlier. Katie K's comment is what made me aware of my own bias on this topic... I'm an atheist, so to me, I don't see it as "freeing" or that any "love" is coming my way upon death. Ah ha... so now it makes more sense to me why I see it differently. And, really, you think we're all really alone? I'd have to think about that statement some more, not sure I agree with that, but it probably deserves more thought before I decide my opinion on it. It certainly is a thought provoking song!

[Natasha]

LOL. Well, I wasn't thinking of the after life at all. I was thinking about life, really.  We're all alone in the sense that we decide on our own who we want to be and how we want to live. Only we know how we feel and experience things. Only we know our thoughts. And when we die, we die alone. We are all having our own independent experiences that are completely unique from everyone else who has ever lived. And we do it all together.

[JulesD]

Oh... I can see that. Like the explanation in a book (forgive me, cannot remember the name of it!) about parenting that says we are all in the same boat... not ONE same boat, just the same KIND of boat, all floating along in our dingy's waving at other people.

[Natasha]

Cool. Exactly.

[Katie K]

Yes, one of the great paradoxes of life. We are all alone, and yet all one. Our individual life experiences are ours alone - how we see the world - our biases - our filters - some given to us through our culture, religions, etc. But still so individualized, that as Natasha said, one can never truly how another perceives things and why. HOWEVER, the sharing of our humanity, makes us all one, too. We all have the same basic needs: food, water, love.

[Jeff Shattuck]

I agree I love the feel of the song and the way the group seems like they are singing in your back yard.

I laughed when the camera man kept allowing the girl in the back ground become the focus rather than the band. Classic.

[Katherine]

That song made we want to stay awake, even though I feel like I've been trampled by a thousand medium to large sized rhinocerii while I slept. Yes, that's the feeling two drinks the night before leaves me with. TWO.

Ha, I run to 99 Red Balloons!

Also, it's fun to make up words.