Legacy in the Key of Bon

Tonic Pop

“Forget the hearse coz I never die.”
Bon Scott, whose real name was Ronald, was born in Scotland in 1946 before moving with his family to Australia in 1952. The name Bon was a nickname given by his classmates and was a play on ‘Bonnie Scotland’.
In his late teens Bon spent a short time in Fremantle Prison's assessment centre and nine months at the Riverbank Juvenile Institution. These stints were a result of charges of giving a false name and address to the police, having escaped legal custody, having unlawful carnal knowledge, and stealing 12 gallons of petrol. He attempted to join the Australian Army, but was rejected and deemed "socially maladjusted"

As we know his main legacy is his music.
Before his death in 1980, with ACDC he wrote and recorded 7 albums including the international version of High Voltage which was a mix of the first 2 Australian release albums ‘High Voltage’ and ‘TNT’.

In a poignant twist Bon’s last recording was an improv jam on the ACDC blues rock ballad, and arguably one of their best songs ‘Ride On’ which he jammed with some friends from the French band ‘Trust’. It’s a song about reflecting on mistakes but moving on and trying to create something better to leave behind.
Broke another promise
And I broke another heart
But I ain't too young to realize
That I ain't too old to try
Try to get back to the start
Days later he was found dead – a result of acute alcohol poisoning.
His legacy didn’t end with his own albums though, he had also hyped up Brian Johnson while he was alive to the rest of ACDC and told then how much he admired him as a front-man. This gave comfort to the band to carry on with Brian as their lead singer and the album that followed, which was a tribute to Bon, is to date ACDCs biggest selling album and not only that but the 2nd highest selling album of all time behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller – or 3rd if you include the Eagles Greatest Hits compilation.
Most of us want to leave a positive, indelible mark on this world. We want to know that people left behind feel that our life mattered. We want to leave something behind that can influence the future.
In considering what we want our legacy to be it need not come with the idea that it must be something so large that it incites a pilgrimage. We need not leave behind world or even local fame.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said ““To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
If we make a conscious decision to leave a positive legacy, no matter grand or how simple we can start purposefully building it.

How do we want to be remembered?

Coming to a knowledge of what we would like our legacy to be allows us to consider our steps. It can help us to avoid recidivism, of repeating an stupid moves and undesirable behaviour.
It can help us see more clearly the world we are creating. It can help us understand our life’s purpose. It can help us to realise that our life does matter.

What Will Your Verse Be?
in his poem ‘O me! O life!” Walt Whitman ponders his life’s meaning
O me! O life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer:

That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

We all have a verse to contribute. It might come in the form of a book, a charity, a life of volunteering, mentorship, artwork, crafts, a garden, stories, a blog, a movement…
It need not be a platinum record, it’s just that reminder that puts a smile on the face of those who are left behind and helps them to lead better lives and want to leave their own legacies.

I’ll let Author Ray Bradbury give us our concluding thoughts.

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way. . . and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there.”