This picture was taken a good few years ago. On the right is one of my all time favourite singer songwriters - Jackson Browne. And on the left - that's his oldest son - Ethan Browne. Ethan's mother was Phyllis Major who took her own life in 1976 when Ethan was just three years old.
Now it seems that Ethan has done the same - not through an overdose of barbiturates this time but through a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He died in his own home in Los Angeles which is where local police officers discovered his lifeless body. It was November 25th, two weeks ago.
Parents are meant to die before their children and you may agree with me that there's something extra tragic about the death of a child - even when that son or daughter is fully grown up. And it doesn't matter if the only remaining parent happens to be a millionaire singer songwriter.
I was privileged to see Jackson Browne in concert at Sheffield City Hall back in March 2009. I was there with my late brother Simon and we enjoyed the occasion enormously. For me it was almost a dream come true. I knew so many of the songs by heart and one of them was "Fountain of Sorrow" from the "Late for the Sky" album (1974).
I leave that song for you to listen to and in memory of an American man I never knew - Ethan Browne who finally gave in to his demons...
I am impressed by the fact that I can understand what is being sung. Suicide is such a sad thing, overwhelming sadness for some.
ReplyDeleteSuch a lot of heartache, sadness, and struggle.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh that made me cry! It's a beautiful song.
ReplyDeleteYes, the natural course of things is that parents die before their children, not the other way round. How sad for the Browne family to lose two of its members to suicide.
ReplyDeleteI know Ethan was not a teenager anymore, but I have read that suicide has become the No. 1 cause of death among teenagers.
It is very sad, especially for the father who has lost two to suicide. The song is also very powerful.
ReplyDeleteRory O'Connor, Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Glasgow, has written in depth on suicide.
ReplyDeleteYouTube. Professor O'Connor : Understanding the Psychology of Suicide Risk.
An Oxfam volunteer told me her son took his own life inside Barlinnie Prison.
Iain D Campbell, a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, and the best theologian of his generation, hanged himself. He had four children, the youngest a girl of 17.
In 2024/25 there were 293 suicides on the London overground trains.
The figure of 293 train suicides in London was over the course of the
Deletefinancial year i.e. 12 months.
I was sorry to hear the news. Jackson Browne has long been one of my favorite singer/songwriters.
ReplyDeleteRIP Ethan
It's so sad when people take their own lives. I understand it, and the pain that never seems to stop, but it destroys those who are left behind.
ReplyDeleteI had similar sorrow thoughts when Keith Emerson shot himself. It resonates so much when you have seen them live.
ReplyDeleteTragic story. I have to confess I can't actually recall ever having heard of Jackson Browne. Checking Wikipedia I see that the Swedish article about him is very short compared to the one in English, so maybe he wasn't all that well known here. (?)
ReplyDeleteSo very sad. The tendency to suicide can be genetic.
ReplyDeleteHow very sad, but parents do sometimes lose a child before they themselves die. My Gran never really got over the death of my Mum, who was her only child, and she lived for another 42 years. Xx
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about that.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Jackson Browne song is "Running on Empty".
Jackson Browne is one of my favorites, too. His music takes me back to high school and college days and afterward, too. He told stories with his music. Any parent who loses a child has a piece of his or her heart missing after the tragic event.
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