suicide is painless

it brings on many changes
and you can do the same thing
if you please.
- johnny mandel, from mash

the tune had been in my head for days now. my problem was i was stuck in this stanza with just the chords -- Dm G C Am and rather vaguely the tune, but i couldn't identify the song, nor could recall any particular lyrics. i know it's from a long time ago and that if i know and could recall the chords then i'd have played it on the guitar. so was it in high school or college?

then i was looking for ideas for a photo and came across francesca woodman and one word, just one word, triggered the whole song. but i have to expel this song from my head and thought it could be portrayed photographically so i read on. well, francesca woodman committed suicide by jumping off a window (that's not painless, mind) and that's a little bit difficult to put into photograph. so i came up with this. and hopefully listening to the song i would get rid of it from my already addled brain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODV6mxVVRZk

[Diana]

Fabulous image, I even remember the song.

[KoalaGardens🐨]

loved that show, even if I didn't understand war when I used to watch it as a teenager

[katy]

Most excellent depiction of this song. I like the perfectly placed hand in the background with the focus on the bottle. Great lighting too.
Is there not a song title challenge running right now?

This was and still is one of my all-time favorite TV shows I have watched it so often I can almost predict what’s going to happen in each episode.

[Virginia Stapleton]

I love the way you played with the shadow and darkness around the main images of the bottle and the hand.

[Clare Gadsby]

certainly a very striking image, and i enjoyed your narrative

[Ann H. LeFevre]

Sadly suicide is not painless. I should know. When my student J. committed suicide I watched his fellow students suffer for the rest of the school year. What should have been a fun filled sr. year became a year of not understanding why and a feeling of incompleteness. When my brother-in-law committed suicide he left behind so much pain in my sister-in-law and niece that they still have not moved on in many ways even though it's been six years since his self inflicted death. I don't think they'll ever get over it, nor will his siblings who still wonder if there was some way they could have helped, made a difference, or prevented it. So while the person contemplating suicide may think it is painless they will never really know the wake of pain they leave behind- a pain that is basically permanent and worse than physical pain which sometimes can be abated.

[Kathy]

Don't shoot the messenger. You didn't write the lyrics and you probably don't agree with them either. A very emotive photo.

[Melvina McCaw]

This is so moving and for anyone that has experienced the loss of a friend or love one the pain does continue. It is unfortunate that some feel it is the only way to relieve their pain.