LEMMY

I loved Ian Fraser “Lemmy” Kilmister like a member of my family, even though I never met him because he spoke honestly and didn’t kid anyone. Most of all, he did things his way and enjoyed this horrible life we all share because what he did made him happy. He once said “A lot of bands follow trends and it’s fatal because you can’t please everybody all the time, we don’t play for you, we play for us and if we like it we put it out and if you like it as well that’s a bonus but it’s not necessary.”

I’ve been told to write like the others and take the routes the others have many times, and I have been sorely tempted to do so many times! Lots of people say learn how to write like the greats before writing like yourself, but that is something that never sat well with me. I appreciate the greats and would love to write just like the greats, but I will never be Shakespeare or Anne Rice or Kafka or Maupassant or Dahl or Thompson or Orwell or Eliot or Frost or Rossetti or Bukowski or DIckens or Rimbaud or any other great including Lemmy. I have spent the past years trying to perfect my style and for every thousand failures I’ve had tiny little victories that have made all the difference because they show me the way forward!

Lemmy taught me to appreciate these victories in a way no one else could. He was ugly, he had a horrible voice but he made it work and for the better part of forty fucking years he steered the greatest rock and roll band through the good and the bad to the very end! He was himself and that is what I aspire to be, myself!

Lemmy once said “Most people get to clock out at the end of their day’s work. I’m Lemmy twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.”
I don’t want my writing to be a job because it is me and is always with me and those who truly know me understand what this means.

This is why Lemmy’s death hit me hard, but I am also happy because Lemmy also said “Integrity is everything to me. I will not die ashamed. I will live on my deathbed knowing that I gave it my best shot, and everything else is meaningless to me.”

Even though I have not truly found my style, I know that when I do I will stick to it, give it my best shot and not die ashamed! Lemmy’s most important lesson to me was that being true to one’s self is the most vital thing in life.

R.I.P LEMMY KILMISTER

P.S. There is now technically a three piece Motörhead band in the land of the dead! Lemmy on bass and vocals, Michael “Würzel” Burston on guitar and Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor! R.I.P guys and KEEP ROCKING LOUDER AND FASTER THAN ANYONE ELSE!