The boy in the bubble refers to those children with Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID) who have to live in sterile environments because they lack the ability to fight off disease. The original "boy in the bubble" was referred to only as "David" and died in 1984 following an unsusccesful bone marrow transplant.
The baby with the baboon heart refers to a case in 1984 when a baby (Fae) who was born with hypoplastic left-heart syndrome, which is a lethal underdevelopment of the left side of the heart. In an effort to save her life, surgeons transplanted a heart from a baboon into her. It initially looked like it had worked, but baby Fae ultimately died.
I'd say these are invoked in the song as instances where technological advances keep alive people who would have died at birth without modern medicine - hence "These are the days of miracle and wonder".
Oball is correct. Incidentally, and significantly, the baby with the baboon heart was killed by a creationist. Yes, dramatic effect..."doomed" would be more accurate. The doctor who implanted the heart chose a baboon heart without regard to medical compatibility because he didn't believe humans and baboons are related. Consequently she died earlier than she might have with a more compatible heart (see conradaskland.com/blog/2007/07/baby-fae-the-unlearned-lesson-of-evolution/).
Oball is correct. Incidentally, and significantly, the baby with the baboon heart was killed by a creationist. Yes, dramatic effect..."doomed" would be more accurate. The doctor who implanted the heart chose a baboon heart without regard to medical compatibility because he didn't believe humans and baboons are related. Consequently she died earlier than she might have with a more compatible heart (see conradaskland.com/blog/2007/07/baby-fae-the-unlearned-lesson-of-evolution/).
The "Boy in the Bubble" was David Vetter. The bone marrow transplant was a new, experimental procedure they had just come up with to resuscitate his immune system. (The hospital's experiment with David was basically over, and it was looking for ways to divest itself of him.) It might have worked, but a virus crept into the transplant material which caused rampant cancerous tumors in little David. The cruel irony is that the donor was his older sister. As an older sibling (and parent of small children) myself, I've often thought about the mental anguish she must have gone through, that in her attempt to free him she effectively killed him--and I wish I could tell her that She Did The Right Thing. For what little consolation that would be.
Simon's references to David are to him as he was portrayed in the press--as a little boy bravely facing his affliction. In reality he became psychologically unstable due to lack of human contact, the seeming hopelessness of his situation, and the looming (to his mind) threat of disease all around him / his bubble. Similarly, the images on the song's video aren't an accurate portrayal of what he or his bubble environment looked like. Then again, what's known about him now wasn't widely available in 1984 when the video was released.
Does anyone (else) see a connection between the lyrics of Paul Simon's "The Boy in the Bubble" and Arthur C Clarke's short story "The Star"? Specifically, "... the way we look to a distant constellation that is dying in a corner of the sky ..."
Does anyone (else) see a connection between the lyrics of Paul Simon's "The Boy in the Bubble" and Arthur C Clarke's short story "The Star"? Specifically, "... the way we look to a distant constellation that is dying in a corner of the sky ..."
The boy in the bubble refers to those children with Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID) who have to live in sterile environments because they lack the ability to fight off disease. The original "boy in the bubble" was referred to only as "David" and died in 1984 following an unsusccesful bone marrow transplant.
The baby with the baboon heart refers to a case in 1984 when a baby (Fae) who was born with hypoplastic left-heart syndrome, which is a lethal underdevelopment of the left side of the heart. In an effort to save her life, surgeons transplanted a heart from a baboon into her. It initially looked like it had worked, but baby Fae ultimately died.
I'd say these are invoked in the song as instances where technological advances keep alive people who would have died at birth without modern medicine - hence "These are the days of miracle and wonder".
Oball is correct. Incidentally, and significantly, the baby with the baboon heart was killed by a creationist. Yes, dramatic effect..."doomed" would be more accurate. The doctor who implanted the heart chose a baboon heart without regard to medical compatibility because he didn't believe humans and baboons are related. Consequently she died earlier than she might have with a more compatible heart (see conradaskland.com/blog/2007/07/baby-fae-the-unlearned-lesson-of-evolution/).
Oball is correct. Incidentally, and significantly, the baby with the baboon heart was killed by a creationist. Yes, dramatic effect..."doomed" would be more accurate. The doctor who implanted the heart chose a baboon heart without regard to medical compatibility because he didn't believe humans and baboons are related. Consequently she died earlier than she might have with a more compatible heart (see conradaskland.com/blog/2007/07/baby-fae-the-unlearned-lesson-of-evolution/).
The "Boy in the Bubble" was David Vetter. The bone marrow transplant was a new, experimental procedure they had just come up with to resuscitate his immune system. (The hospital's experiment with David was basically over, and it was looking for ways to divest itself of him.) It might have worked, but a virus crept into the transplant material which caused rampant cancerous tumors in little David. The cruel irony is that the donor was his older sister. As an older sibling (and parent of small children) myself, I've often thought about the mental anguish she must have gone through, that in her attempt to free him she effectively killed him--and I wish I could tell her that She Did The Right Thing. For what little consolation that would be.
Simon's references to David are to him as he was portrayed in the press--as a little boy bravely facing his affliction. In reality he became psychologically unstable due to lack of human contact, the seeming hopelessness of his situation, and the looming (to his mind) threat of disease all around him / his bubble. Similarly, the images on the song's video aren't an accurate portrayal of what he or his bubble environment looked like. Then again, what's known about him now wasn't widely available in 1984 when the video was released.
Does anyone (else) see a connection between the lyrics of Paul Simon's "The Boy in the Bubble" and Arthur C Clarke's short story "The Star"? Specifically, "... the way we look to a distant constellation that is dying in a corner of the sky ..."
Does anyone (else) see a connection between the lyrics of Paul Simon's "The Boy in the Bubble" and Arthur C Clarke's short story "The Star"? Specifically, "... the way we look to a distant constellation that is dying in a corner of the sky ..."