On This Day …

… in 2007, one of the most poignant and powerful songs about about “life and death” was released with the Heroin Diaries of Sixx:A.M.: “Life Is Beautiful“. It’s about what Motley Crue bassist, Nikki Sixx, went through when he was addicted to heroin:

You can’t quit until you try. You can’t live until you die. You can’t learn to tell the truth until you learn to lie. You can’t breathe until you choke. You gotta laugh when you’re the joke. I know some things that you don’t. I’ve done things that you won’t. There’s nothing like a trail of blood to find your way back home. I was waiting for my hearse. What came next was so much worse. It took a funeral to make me feel alive. There’s nothing like a funeral to make you feel alive. ALIVE! Just open your eyes! Just open your eyes and see that life is beautiful. Will you swear on your life that no one will cry at my funeral?

If you’ve never heard it before, and even if you’re not a heavy metal rocker aficionado like me, much like a few of my other “live while you’re alive and think about your legacy” metal songs such as “The Brighter Side of Grey“, “Remember Everything“, “Leave Out All The Rest“, and, oh, yah, let’s not forget that other really sobering near death addiction song, “Tragic Truth“, I believe there is powerful “Memento Mori” message in Life Is Beautiful that every music lover can appreciate. Meanwhile, perhaps what’s at the forefront of my mind right now is a social media post turned Diary entry I’d made on the very first day of this year with an equally poignant if not hauntingly beautiful message:

… and thus another 365 days are now waiting ahead to take us ALL back around the The Sun again, God willing. To know me well is to know that I am TRULY in love with every minute of every day that I “get” to partake in this bittersweet, beautiful, shit show of a fucking CIRCUS we call life. Some may find me morbid, macabre, pessimistic, “doom and gloom”, or obsessed with the thought of Death. I am not. Quite the contrary, actually – BUT – I am a stoic … and a realist … and if dancing with “Death” has gifted me anything, it’s my absolute peace with and understanding about the brevity of mere existence. So, with that, as you begin what will hopefully prove to be YOUR next beautiful trip around our that fiery girl in the sky … “MEMENTO MORI”: Remember that you have to die. Let my words and my story be a sobering, LIFE-long reminder to make each of the 86,400 seconds of your next 365 days REALLY count. Live today, not tomorrow, because unless you’re God or an immortal jellyfish, tomorrow isn’t promised. “… and if you see me losing faith in what it means to die, don’t let me leave before I know what lies behind the stained-glass doors. Save sorrow for the souls in doubt. Bleed every care out.”

(“Carry Me Down“)

With that, Happy Birthday, “Life Is Beautiful”! Much like any addiction, only this one in all the best ways, you have seeped into my soul, crawled beneath my skin, broken me into pieces, cut me where I needed to be cut, and become a daily anthem and reminder to LIVE while I’m ALIVE in this BEAUTIFUL fucking shit show called LIFE! Here’s hoping that you find your way into the heart and soul of someone else who desperately needs to hear your message and that you inject this GOOD STUFF deep into into their veins.