The holidays are supposed to be times of joy, but this past Christmas brought sorrow to the world of music. On Christmas day, Vic Chesnutt, the singer-songwriter from Athens, GA, died from purposeful overdose of muscle relaxers.
Vic had been confined to a wheelchair since he was 18, when he broke his neck in an auto accident. It was from this vantage point that Vic songs emanated. Often funny in a dark Faulknarian way, Vic was probably one of the finest songwriters living, at least until Christmas day. In concert Vic seemed frail and shy, yet he was able to hold an audience as though they were moths and he was the light.
This fall he released the album, At the Cut, which the LA Times called “death-obsessed.” When interviewed by that paper, Vic discussed his mounting health care bills, which exceeded $70,000! A statement he made then was prophetic: "I was making payments, but I can't anymore and I really have no idea what I'm going to do. It seems absurd they can charge this much. When I think about all this, it gets me so furious. I could die tomorrow because of other operations I need that I can't afford. I could die any day now, but I don't want to pay them another nickel."
However, what’s frightening was how truly conflicted, as many of us are, Vic was. IN an Huffington Post Interview, he stated, “I can sing a love song to death because, it's no secret, I've suicided several times. I suck at it, it didn't work. But it's a song about a man who discovers he wants to live. It's like a breakup song with death.”
Yet, Vic watched the health care debate with great scrutiny. “I've had intimate relations with the health industry for many, many years. I've been in hospitals around the world too, so I've seen the way it works in other countries. Some of the healthcare debate that's going on now is some of the most ludicrous discussions I've ever seen. It's hilarious! Obama's incompetent and the right are morons.”
In the end we lost a sensitive songwriter fighting the antiquated behemoth health care system. The behemoth won.
p.s. Vic. Will you sign my iiiiiipod pllllleeeeeaaaasse?
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