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"It's better to burn out..."

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Ted Rolfes

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Oct 22, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/22/97
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What is the origin of the quote "It's better to burn out than to fade
away"? Neil Young uses "It's better to burn out, than it is to rust",
and I think others have used the "fade away" version, but where did it
originate?

Thanks,
-T

"I can resist everything except temptation."
-- Oscar Wilde

Matthew Waldman

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Oct 22, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/22/97
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Both lines are from Neil Young's "My My Hey Hey (Out of the blue)" the
first cut off the album "Rust Never Sleeps". There's an alternate line
in "Hey Hey My My" which closes the album, it is "It's better to burn
out 'cause rust never sleeps" thus the album's title.

Matt Elrod

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Oct 22, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/22/97
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dont....@nospam.com (Ted Rolfes) wrote:
}What is the origin of the quote "It's better to burn out than to fade
}away"? Neil Young uses "It's better to burn out, than it is to rust",
}and I think others have used the "fade away" version, but where did it
}originate?

"It is better to wear out than to rust out"
-- Richard Cumberland (17th century).

Matt "Well, I don't think there is any question about it. It can only
be attributable to human error. This sort of thing has cropped
up before and it has always been due to human error" -- HAL9000

Rick H. Kennerly

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Oct 22, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/22/97
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Then there is London's Creed

I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn
out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would
rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a
sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to
exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my
time.

--Jack London

Rick

Martin Julian DeMello

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Oct 23, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/23/97
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Rick H. Kennerly (nh...@abs.net) wrote:
: Then there is London's Creed

And, of course, Dylan Thomas's

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light...

--
Martin DeMello

Remove the sep_field from my address to reply

Peter Tombling

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Oct 29, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/29/97
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Can't help on the actual origin of this, but Def Leppard used it in one
of their songs on "Hysteria" (1983) and it was also used in the film
"Highlander" in 1985, and subsequently on Queen's "Gimme the Prize"
which was part of the Highlander sountrack on the "A Kind Of Magic"
album.

Caffeine wrote:
>
> *What is the origin of the quote "It's better to burn out than to fade
> *away"? Neil Young uses "It's better to burn out, than it is to rust",
> *and I think others have used the "fade away" version, but where did it
> *originate?
> *
> *Thanks,

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