Althouse: "They... filled the cracks in my dodgy vertebra with this human cement stuff. I mean, I’ve got so many plates and bolts inside me already..."

October 2, 2025

"They... filled the cracks in my dodgy vertebra with this human cement stuff. I mean, I’ve got so many plates and bolts inside me already..."

"... why not pour a slab of concrete in there too?... Death’s been knocking at my door for the last six years, louder and louder. And at some point I’m gonna have to let him in. The funny thing is, I used to worry more about my mortality when I was younger. It’s weird. You get closer to the end — the very thing you were scared of your whole life — and suddenly the weight’s lifted off you.... When the end does come, I don’t want to be cremated. It’s like you were never here. You’re just a bag of dust. That’s not for me. I wanna make the flowers grow.... It’s just crazy how quickly a lifetime goes.... Life’s so short...."

Writes Ozzy Osbourne, in "Ozzy Osbourne: How Sharon and I pulled off my crazy last gig/Less than three weeks before he died, the ailing Black Sabbath frontman played one final concert, for 42,000 fans at Villa Park. In an extract from his posthumous memoir, he shares the inside story of the biggest miracle of his unlikely career" (London Times).

19 comments:

Kai Akker said...: --- "It’s just crazy how quickly a lifetime goes.... Life’s so short...."

--- "I wanna make the flowers grow...."

And thus continue to live, in another form.

Words to consider.

Tell them what you like about them now.; 10/2/25, 9:39 AM
Howard said...: That's a Man; 10/2/25, 9:46 AM
GatorNavy said...: Ozzy, we miss you; 10/2/25, 10:05 AM
Ampersand said...: Having your remains put into a coffin and the putting the coffin six feet underground won't make flowers grow. Maybe make a modest donation to some garden clubs. And we are., once dead, either dust in the near term or dust in the long term. Apologies for my downbeat tone.; 10/2/25, 10:44 AM
rehajm said...: When you're cremated you can become part of the substrate for stuff to grow. I like the idea of being top dress for a lovely hole on the front nine somewhere, maybe a green with Tiff Eagle overlooking the water...; 10/2/25, 10:58 AM
CJinPA said...: It’s just crazy how quickly a lifetime goes.... Life’s so short...."

That's kind of moving, and universal.; 10/2/25, 11:39 AM
stutefish said...: I think it should be "wrote Ozzy Osbourne". Using "writes" in the present tense should be reserved for still-living authors, or authors that have been established as perennial. Writes Shakespeare, writes Hemingway, wrote Osbourne.; 10/2/25, 11:40 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Great writer, that Ozzy. Thanks for posting.; 10/2/25, 11:49 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Kyphoplasty is a miracle for people with degenerative spines, like my wife. She's got more metal and cement in her than you'd imagine.; 10/2/25, 12:01 PM
Grundoon said...: There are scattering gardens at some cemeteries now for the scattering of ashes in a place dedicated for cremains. There is often a way to display the name of the deceased on a plaque. The gardens are wooded areas or more garden-like with smaller plants. I have needed to research cemeteries recently and I did not know of this option. Seeing a garden or wooded area when you go to visit a cemetery seems like an attractive idea to me.; 10/2/25, 12:09 PM
Meade said...: Scatter my cremains over the root zone of your favorite Redbud grove on the banks of the Wabash. Or the Little Miami. They’ll be rich in nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and calcium — with every rain shower bioavailable to the trillions of soil microbes teaming with life. Thanks again, Beautiful, for everything!; 10/2/25, 12:14 PM
Ann Althouse said...: “ I think it should be "wrote Ozzy Osbourne". Using "writes" in the present tense should be reserved…”

But published writing is always from the past. And Ozzy lives in our heart.; 10/2/25, 12:16 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Oh, hi, Meade. Please hang on for a few more Octobers.; 10/2/25, 12:20 PM
Meade said...: For you, my love, anything. God willing.; 10/2/25, 12:24 PM
Big Mike said...: I can relate to what Ozzy wrote — I’m 79 and sometime in the past few years I came to accept that the time remaining to me is probably pretty limited. Some night I’ll go to bed and not wake up. In 1968 I received my induction notice from the draft board and I would not have bet any money that I’d make it to my 25th birthday, snd here I am pushing 80.

I requested cremation in my will, so that they can recycle my titanium knees. If Ozzy had as much metal in his body as his words suggest, he should have gone the cremation route himself.; 10/2/25, 2:28 PM
Unknown said...: It was after my mother was cremated following her death two years ago that I began to understand why customs related to the death of a person were established as they were. While a person might wish to be cremated after they die, the dead do not care—only the living do. Taking part in a burial ceremony and the ability to visit a grave is intended for them as a way to deal with the significant loss of an important person that has been removed forever from their lives. These things ultimately exist for them—to make it easier to come to terms. Well, I am not sure I am making my point clear. I used to not give such notions much thought before, when they existed in the abstract. Then there was a point where the abstract became real—and by then, I could merely lament the outcome.; 10/2/25, 3:45 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: Y'all can be cremated and placed on a coffee table or thrown out like used coffee grounds on a tree root. I'll take a grave, a headstone, and coffin. Thank you very much.; 10/2/25, 4:25 PM
effinayright said...: Remember the hilarious scene in "The Big Lebowski" where Steve Buscemi attempts to scatter Donny's ashes from a cliff overlooking the ocean, only to have the wind shift and blow them all over The Dude? When people talk about cremation that's the first image to pop up in my head.; 10/2/25, 4:28 PM
Jim at said...: Ozzy started his solo career during my last two years in high school.

I attended a very (very) religious high school ... living in a dorm on campus. It wasn't my religion.

Took me a few years to fully appreciate the rebels who hid their Black Sabbath posters. And even longer to appreciate how ground-breaking that band was.

Ozzy simply had to do one more show. Had to.

And he did.; 10/3/25, 3:00 AM