"I dreamed I saw you in an ice cream parlor,
drinking milkshakes cold and long."*
drinking milkshakes cold and long."*
Ice Cream, a Love Story (2015)
A story about a loving couple making their way through the minefield of serious illness. I developed it in late 2015 as part of a presentation at a local conference for hospice and palliative clinicians, but didn't have it finished as a video soon enough - I narrated it as a slide show.
The narrator is Redd Horrocks, an amazing voice actor in the UK. I got royalty-free music at Bensound.
A young version of Jeanne was the model for Suzy, and I was the model for Mark (except for the hair).
The narrator is Redd Horrocks, an amazing voice actor in the UK. I got royalty-free music at Bensound.
A young version of Jeanne was the model for Suzy, and I was the model for Mark (except for the hair).
* That's a line from 'Five Years' by David Bowie. Here's one of many terrific performances, this with a toned-down Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
David Bowie is helping me grieve
Jeanne and David Bowie died a few days apart, and were also close in age. My last days with her included a lot of his music, and it's been that way ever since - the music, I mean.
The lyrics and sentiments in this song are also tightly tied to our experience, because the overall trajectory of her illness took us through a period of about five years, from mid-2010 to January 2016.
David Bowie
Pushing through the market square,
So many mothers sighing
News had just come over,
We had five years left to cry in
News guy wept and told us,
Earth was really dying
Cried so much his face was wet,
Then I knew he was not lying
I heard telephones, opera house, favorite melodies
I saw boys, toys, electric irons and T.V.'s
My brain hurt like a warehouse, it had no room to spare
I had to cram so many things to store everything in there
And all the fat-skinny people, and all the tall-short people
And all the nobody people, and all the somebody people
I never thought I'd need so many people
A girl my age went off her head,
Hit some tiny children
If the black hadn't a-pulled her off,
I think she would have killed them
A soldier with a broken arm,
Fixed his stare to the wheels of a Cadillac
A cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest,
And a queer threw up at the sight of that
I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlor,
Drinking milk shakes cold and long
Smiling and waving and looking so fine,
Don't think you knew you were in this song
And it was cold and it rained so I felt like an actor
And I thought of Ma and I wanted to get back there
Your face, your race, the way that you talk
I kiss you, you're beautiful, I want you to walk
We've got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that's all we've got
We've got five years, what a surprise
Five years, stuck on my eyes
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that's all we've got
We've got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that's all we've got
We've got five years, what a surprise
Five years, stuck on my eyes
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that's all we've got
Five years
Five years
Five years
Five years
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: David Bowie
Five Years lyrics © Tintoretto Music, BMG Rights Management
