Morrissey was stricken with pneumonia this week, forcing him to postpone a gig in San Francisco and cancel his performance at Mexico City's Vive Latino festival. But the singer found the energy to write an open letter to a super fan who recently died. Writing on fan site True-to-You, Morrissey recalled Margaret Dale's dedication to his music and live shows, and noted how his recent signature on her arm became a tattoo.
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"I can only hope, for Margaret, that death yields the profit of rest, and somehow provides her with a listener," wrote Morrissey. "We all weary of living in the same skin day after day, in a world where only the blandly trivial are allowed to be heard, but there is nothing wrong with taking your destiny into your own hands, just as there is nothing wrong in understanding what is meant for you and what isn't."
Morrissey called Dale a "woman of action" and added a dig against "the constitutional frigidity of a media world now openly obsessed with zombies and morons." He closed with "rest well." While reports and the tone of Morrissey's letter suggest Dale's sudden death may have been suicide, there has not been confirmation. Full text of the letter follows below.
I did not know Margaret on a personal level, but she was always there on the front row - the U.K., the U.S., Israel - wherever we'd go, she'd go. Last week Margaret drove behind the tour bus all the way from Davis to Seattle, and managed to get onstage at Davis. I had signed her arm and it was now a tattoo. This week she is dead.
I can only hope, for Margaret, that death yields the profit of rest, and somehow provides her with a listener. We all weary of living in the same skin day after day, in a world where only the blandly trivial are allowed to be heard, but there is nothing wrong with taking your destiny into your own hands, just as there is nothing wrong in understanding what is meant for you and what isn't. We are plonked into life without ever choosing to be, and we are despised if we fail to find a paralyzed spot in which to keep still and shut up. Margaret was a woman of action, who now knows the soul of the world.
Meanwhile, on today's AOL News Page, headlines tell us that Victoria Beckham has reportedly dropped her "fake" look, and William and Kate are in search of yet another home - the constitutional frigidity of a media world now openly obsessed with zombies and morons.
Rest well, Margaret.
Morrissey
Mexico
13 March 2013
