I will premiere my new song ‘Shelley’s Heart’ on Saturday 2nd November on the stage of Shelley Theatre, Bournemouth, for Fatea’s 30th Birthday Bash. TICKETS AND INFO.
When I heard the story of Shelley’s heart I was struck by the similarities to the attempted cremation of the young & iconic Country Pop singer Gram Parsons by his two stoned & drunken friends.
In Shelley’s case the cremation on the beach of Lake Como in Italy, attended by his friends, including Lord Byron, failed to destroy his heart and one of the friends claimed he saw the heart move or ‘beat’. The partially burned organ was later delivered to his widow, Mary. On her death it was found in her desk wrapped in silk inside one of the Poet’s final poems, Adonais.
In Gram’s case the body was stolen by his friend and 
road manager from the airport and partially cremated leaving at least 35lbs of partially burned remains which were later returned to his family in New Orleans. The cremators were apparently so overcome with grief, substances and confusion that they left the scene in a hearse, the body still burning, and were promptly pulled over for drunken driving after back-ending another motorist.
On the shores of Lake Como Byron, overcome with grief, tore off his shirt and in the darkness swam towards the centre of the lake.
A later report in the. New York Times suggested the organ Mary cherished all her life and which was finally buried with Shelley’s son, Percy Florence, may actually have been his liver.
See you there!
