No Rock And Roll Fun

NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR ACTION: ... it's time for mawkish sentiment. As if the terrible prospect of Mike Read's Grief Never Dies wasn't bad enough, now Sharon Osbourne is pulling together another musical fundraiser. The line-up is dismal in its own right - Elton John from the Dead Princess Diana record, Rod Stewart, Robbie Williams, Stephen Tyler and - for the kids - Gwen Stefani of the digital camera business. But the song Sharon has chosen ("we could not think of a more appropriate song") is Eric Clapton's Tears In Heaven.

Now, Clapton could just about get away with the song because it was written while he was in genuine, immeasurable grief following the death of his son - but to suggest that its broad-brush sob-a-long-a-sniff is "the most appropriate" song for fundraising for the tsunami victims probably marks the point where the world's stunned reaction has started to be trimmed down into a manageable, tidy, plastic-bag-of-flowers-and-teddy-bear-tied-to-the-railings bit of mawk. It's interesting that Sharon thinks that the appropriate reaction is a lyric describing how it feels for us, something to give us all a bit of a wallow, rather than a call to arms. It's incredible that she's managed to make We Are The World seem like a more thoughtful reaction, but then Sharon never fails to take us to a new place, does she?

Oh, and naturally: Kelly's being invited to sing along on the song. We're guessing it'll be another one of those "moving" duets with her dad.