Goodbye, Norma Jean,
Though I never knew you at all;
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled;
They crawled out of the woodwork,
And they whispered into your brain,
They set you on the treadmill,
And they made you change your name.
And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind,
Never knowing who to cling to,
When the rain set in.
And I would have liked to have known you,
But I was just a kid,
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did.
Loneliness was tough,
The toughest role you ever played;
Hollywood created a superstar –
And pain was the price you paid;
Even when you died,
The press still hounded you –
All the papers had to say
Was that Marilyn was found in the nude.
Goodbye, Norma Jean,
Though I never knew you at all;
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled;
Goodbye, Norma Jean,
From the young man in the twenty-second row,
Who sees you as something more than sexual,
More than just our Marilyn Monroe.