
I've always loved "Done Too Soon" by Neil Diamond, released in 1970 on his Tap Root Manuscript album. If you're like me you'll recognize quite a few of the people he references in the lyric, but there may also quite a number you've never heard of. If you're interested, click on the person's name below to find out just who the person was. There are geniuses, revolutionaries, hardened criminals, entertainers and artists. They all share one trait: they're human and only here for a blink of an eye on this earth.
Jesus Christ, Fanny Brice
Wolfie Mozart and Humphrey Bogart
And Genghis Khan
And on to H. G. Wells
Ho Chi Minh, Gunga Din
Henry Luce and John Wilkes Booth
And Alexanders King and Graham Bell
Ramakrishna, Mama Whistler
Patrice Lumumba and Russ Colombo
Karl and Chico Marx
Albert Camus,
E. A. Poe, Henri Rousseau
Sholom Aleichem and Caryl Chessman
Alan Freed and Buster Keaton too
And each one there
Has one thing shared
They have sweated beneath the same sun
Looked up in wonder at the same moon
And wept when it was all done
For bein' done too soon
For bein' done too soon
For bein' done