And I didn’t understand the poll, so only voted for one person (Hendrix).
I don’t guess I can go back and vote three more times, can I?
By the way, what’s Jeff Beck doing on the list?? I referenced him in regard to Duane, but he’s very much alive!
Never mind. Duplicate post.
The Jeff Beck thing was my failing to pay attention to what the thread is about! :smack: I’ll remove his name from the next summary!
As for not voting for 5 on the poll, I can’t fix that so you can add to the list of write-ins if you’d like.
As I’m seeing it now, a follow-up poll, maybe not a FINAL one, would be a combination of the top batch of write-ins here added to a trimmed down version of the “original” poll with the lower vote-getters being dropped. Maybe have the next poll where you vote for just your top three?
I welcome suggestions or ideas for how to make a second poll meaningful, if not more fun.
Anybody?
Cool! I think I would have added Lowell George - I don’t see him here. I also would have voted for Warren Zevon.
For my 5th, I think Eddie Cochran (“Summertime Blues”), killed in a car crash on his UK tour at the age of 21. 
I’m conflicted on this one.
Yes, it would have been nice to see Warren to live to a ripe old age, but he would have been producing album after album that sold fewer and fewer copies. That is the nature of the music business - once the critics think they have you fitted into the right pigeonhole, you’re not going to get out of it. And Warren was “the guy who wrote ‘Werewolves of London’” and nothing else he did was going to catch their attention, in spite of a raft of great later career albums.
The tragedy of cancer, though horrible for Warren Zevon the person, was a boon to Warren Zevon the artist. If the man had lived to a ripe old age he wouldn’t have been invited to be the sole guest on an episode of Late Night with David Letterman, would not have been the subject of a deeply moving Nick Read documentary Warren Zevon: Keep Me In Your Heart and wouldn’t have produced the album The Wind.
I don’t know if I would want to have to decide.
Everyone has to die. Not everybody gets to die bravely, leaving behind an amazing treatise on the subject. Could the world lose Keep Me In Your Heart?
Hendrix for me.
His creativity was going expotential just at the time of his death and his most interesting work was probably still ahead of him.
The only others on that list one could perhaps say the same of are maybe Cobain and Marley.
Dude, it’s just pretend. I inquired earlier.
You make an excellent point, but then, who knows? Maybe David Simon, or David Milch, or some other creator might have cast WZ in the next great HBO series or something. Maybe he would have collaborated with Carl Hiassen on a terrific novel, or written the music for a great play. Maybe he would have had an entirely new career that gave him even greater fame. Then you and I would have even more to celebrate!
But your point is very well taken!
Here are two sorted summaries to compare.
View Poll Results: Who would you bring back to life (limit 5)?
This poll will close on 05-28-2012 at 08:28 AM
John Lennon 60 60.00%
Jimi Hendrix 47 47.00%
George Harrison 31 31.00%
Johnny Cash 28 28.00%
Janis Joplin 24 24.00%
Elvis Presley 21 21.00%
Ray Charles 15 15.00%
Michael Jackson 15 15.00%
Bob Marley 15 15.00%
Kurt Cobain 14 14.00%
Frank Sinatra 11 11.00%
Miles Davis 9 9.00%
Tupac Shakur 7 7.00%
James Brown 4 4.00%
Isaac Hayes 3 3.00%
Whitney Houston 3 3.00%
Luther Vandross 3 3.00%
Biggie Smalls 2 2.00%
Tammy Wynette 1 1.00%
DJ AM 0 0%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 100
View Poll Results: Who would you bring back to life (limit 5)?
This poll will close on 05-28-2012 at 08:28 AM
John Lennon 28 56.00%
Jimi Hendrix 25 50.00%
George Harrison 16 32.00%
Johnny Cash 14 28.00%
Janis Joplin 12 24.00%
Elvis Presley 11 22.00%
Ray Charles 10 20.00%
Bob Marley 9 18.00%
Kurt Cobain 7 14.00%
Michael Jackson 7 14.00%
Frank Sinatra 5 10.00%
Miles Davis 3 6.00%
Luther Vandross 3 6.00%
James Brown 2 4.00%
Isaac Hayes 2 4.00%
Tupac Shakur 2 4.00%
Biggie Smalls 2 4.00%
DJ AM 0 0%
Whitney Houston 0 0%
Tammy Wynette 0 0%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 50
With the same names in the top half of each group, I’d say it’s unlikely that additional votes are going to change the general picture.
Does that seem reasonable enough to proceed with a follow-up poll?
Vote from the list:
Miles Davis
Write-ins:
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Sabicas
Ali Farka Touré
Violeta Parra
George Carlin is not on this poll. Boo to you, sir!
Agreed, but artists who die in their nineties, in a comfortable bed surrounded by their children and grandchildren, don’t seem to get the same level of attention as those who die too young. As you get older, it becomes harder to catch the attention of the public - I’ve seen it too many times, artists producing the best work of their careers, pretty much ignored after a certain age. Those who manage a late-career revival, like Johnny Cash, are the very rare exception.
Of the possibilities you mentioned, do you believe any of them could have had the same emotional impact as the best songs on The Wind? The specter of death (always there in his work) drove him on that album. Like Samuel Johnson said: “…when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”
Thank you.
Hendrix and Cobain.
I was surprised that Elvis didn’t do better, not a fan myself but his fans always struck me as being fanatical.
I also agree you have some good points here. However, Zevon is one of my favorite musical artists (see my screenname), and I wish he was still here. 
I would also add Eva Cassidy.
Jeff Buckley
John Bonham
Keith Moon
Lane Staley (Alice in Chains)
Phil Hartman. I know he was an actor, but I really feel cheated that he was taken from humanity so early.
On the OP list, I could have voted for several, but I kept it to two: Jimi Hendrix & Miles Davis. Only because I’d like to figure out a way to get those two in a studio together and see what happens.
If I could add one that I haven’t seen mentioned:
I never got to see Muddy Waters. Wish I could have.
I picked four because you left Jeff Healey off the list. amazing talent.
I’m quite confident Warren would agree with you.
Turning the page…