6.25.2009

remembering the king of pop




This may seem like an unlikely choice for a "memorial" but at the ripe old age of 8, this song rocked my face off. Free Willy came out the day before my eighth birthday, and I remember getting it on VHS that following Christmas. The feature presentation was preceded by this video, and I used to dance to it a lot with my brother.

Now that I'm a mature adult with 5 kids, mortgage payments and a Twitter account, I can see that Michael Jackson had one of the largest influences on western music since the British Invasion - and that Free Willy is hardly where that influence comes from (this is just track 11 on Dangerous). However, in the world of Ben Rucker, killer whales impossibly jumping 30 feet into the air following a dramatic key change is the definition of influence.

Salana... Eyuong... Ayessis!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Haham, GAAAAAAAAAAA, amazing, unbelievable. Love it. And the way you wrote this post is so great.
Also, I like the silent conversation the kid has with Willy for like 30 seconds, 4:10 ish to 4:40 ish. Hehe

benjamin said...

haha, goodness.

also, check this out. note his "occupation" over on the sidebar. so good.

Anonymous said...

Free Willy was the most important movie in my childhood and sometimes I also watch it nowadays. Until today I'm wondering what the words salana eyuong ayessis mean and I really hope you can help me. There was a website where they say it says "Stay strong" or "Everything is possible" but I want to be sure if that's the meaning or maybe something completely else. It's the language of the Haida North American Indians isn't it? Thank you for helping me :)

benjamin said...

Anonymous, you didn't leave a way to contact you back, so you will NEVER KNOW THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION. Actually, I just don't know the answer to your question. Sorry!

Anonymous said...

I think the way someone can answer is here on this site isn't it? So if anyone knows it or has an idea, please tell me :)