ELTON!

I heard the saddest story today. Sad, that is, in a "I really shouldn't laugh but I do" sort of way, which, as you may or may not agree, is maybe the saddest of all sorts of sad.

Appareantly, last week in the UK a woman (probably in her early 70's or something) murdered her son. Sad isn't it? Wait, it gets sadder. The son in question, a man in his late 30's I believe, had Down syndrome. When I heard the story the big girl in me (the one I also blame for my weight) let out a big "Awww!".

So far, just sad no laughing. Unless you're really weird.

However, the reason the woman killed her son was the following; for weeks in a row her son had been listening to the same Elton John CD over and over and over and over again while constantly (and I do mean every-few-seconds-without-taking-a-break-constantly) chanting "ELTON! ELTON! ELTON! ELTON!". At a certain point something broke in the woman in question and she did what she did.

The thing is, that I can relate to the mother.

For years my sister, whose heart otherwise art blessed, had a fascination with horrible music. She used to not care at all about musicians untill she fell in love with.... 3T. For hours and hours in a row the absolutely horrific sounds of the Jackson brothers would come out of her room. And, sadly, also into my room. Although it was good to know my sister was no racist, that euphoria soon wore off as I (and my parents with me) realized that 3T songs were sweeter than the average Lionel Richie song (... I know).

Thankfully, like most teenage crushes my sisters obsession with Michael Jacksons nephews soon ended and was replaced by a Leonardo DiCaprio obsession. This was right around the time when Titanic was released and when the movie came out on video, my sister watched it at least twice a week (at her mothers place thankfully). For a moment me and my parents rejoiced. This obsession, which would proof far more lengthy than the 3T crush, at least would not involve music blasting through the house.

Obviously, we had not considered the role Celine Dion had played in the success of the movie Titanic.

Hours in a row "My heart will go on" was blasting through my sisters stereo. And although my father, never the best in historical details, later claimed it was Whitney Houston's "I will always love you" (thereby diminishing the depths of our pain by not remembering the actual song), we were hurting. And, I have to say, if we would have had my sister living with us 24/7, and thereby also playing that song 24/7, while chanting either "CELINE! CELINE! CELINE!" or "LEO! LEO! LEO!". Well....

So Elton boy, may you rest in peace. And if there is a heaven, I'm sure there's more Elton John music there than you've ever heard before.