brianandnadia

One of Brian’s favorite Buffett songs was actually a cover of a Crosby, Stills, & Nash song called Southern Cross.  He and I listened to it at about 4am on the morning he died.  I don’t think it was his favorite Buffett song, but he said it was his favorite one to hear in concert.  I’ve listened to it a lot since the day Brian died and it’s pretty good. It’s growing on me.

The Southern Cross is actually a constellation seen primarily by those in the southern hemisphere, but is also seen in the northern hemisphere during parts of the year.

Crux-Map

There are lots of myths about the southern cross, apparently the most famous is that a fish was swimming in the Milky Way and two brothers had been down on earth, making rivers and mountains.  They got hungry, caught the fish, and made two fires to cook him.  So the four points of the cross are the two brothers and the two fires.  Not entirely interesting to me because I couldn’t find any info on who the two brothers were or what culture this myth came from.  But other myths/facts I found which are personally more interesting:

• The Southern Cross is a constellation (group of stars) that is found in the southern region of the night sky. It is the most commonly known, and easily identifiable of all the southern constellations.
• The Southern Cross’ stars were of great importance to the aboriginal people.
• In central Australia, it was the belief that the pattern created by the stars in the cross was the footprint of a wedge-tailed eagle. The pointers were his throwing stick and the dark patch, his nest.
• Other indigenous peoples believed that the Southern Cross and its pointers was a Stingray (the cross) that was being pursued throughout the southern sky by a Shark (the pointers).
• The aboriginals of eastern Australia, however, called the Cross “Mirrabooka”. Mirrabooka was a kind and clever man who was immortalised by being put in the night sky by Biami, the creator. This was to assist with watching over the people on earth. The pointers are Mirrabooka’s eyes – seeing all of the earth.
• The brightest star, Acrux, at the base of the cross, gets its name from a combination of “Alpha” and “Crux”.  A close look with a small telescope reveals Acrux as a pleasing double star.
• The red-orange Gacrux (gamma Crucis) at the top makes a striking color contrast with the other bright blue-white stars of the constellation.

But it’s the song itself that most interests me, as I doubt Brian ever particularly cared for the origin stories.  As for the song, it’s pretty hard to pretend it’s anything other than a bad breakup song.  I’ve found on different forums that the song is about the most horrible divorce you can image that Stephen Crosby actually went through.  Other people think it’s a song about sailors and sailing, other people think it’s about finding yourself.  I mean, you name it, some yahoo can make the lyrics fit their situation.  And I am such a yahoo.

I imagine that Brian was first drawn to this break up song because of a bad breakup – or the most horrible break up you can imagine!  And I can tell you stories.  LOL.  But there are definitely some spiritual and soulful elements to the song.  When I hear those parts, combined with the parts about a love of sailing, I can hear Brian in them.  And a tiny bit of myself.

There are some liner notes somewhere in which Stephen Crosby had this to say about the song:

“The Curtis Brothers brought me a wonderful song called “Seven League Boots,” but it drifted around too much. I re-wrote a new set of words and added a different chorus, a story about a long boat trip I took after my divorce. It’s about using the power of the universe to heal your wounds. Once again I was given somebody’s gem and cut and polished it”
Stephen Stills
CSN diskette insert

So according to the dude that wrote it, it’s not necessarily a break up song, but a song about what you do with yourself after such an event.  And it’s about the power of the universe to heal our wounds.  Well, if that isn’t something that speaks directly to me and directly to my experience of Brian’s death, then nothing does.  And that’s what sold me on it.

My memorial tattoo for Brian is the constellation of the Southern Cross.  I put it on my foot (because I’m tired of tattoos that I can’t see without being a contortionist) and I must say it’s growing on me nicely.