February 17 - Song for Dana Plato

A surprisingly full sound for this period, and a catching chorus at a point where John was quite chorus-averse. There's something nicely and deliberately unsettling in the bass progression that stops the song ever settling into a reassuring pattern, which works well with the subject matter.

The catchy chorus of the song works best because it's not true. The repeated refrain of "it's easy to slow down" is easy to sing and hard to live. There are times where slowing down is essentially impossible because the world keeps dragging you to move faster.

I wasn't familiar with Dana Plato. Diff'rent Strokes wasn't a show that made it strongly to the UK. Her work dried up soon after that and by the time I was living in America she had already died. I was however familiar with the path of life she was wedged into. Fame too early and too unsupported, comfort sort where it wasn't easily obtained, swift abandonment by the world that exploited her when she was inconvenient. The entertainment industry is an uncaring machine to everyone but especially to the young and the vulnerable. It's not easy to slow down but it's all too easy to get spat out.