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"Rocky Dennis in Heaven" Lyrics

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Rocky Dennis In Heaven is an EP by Swedish singer-songwriter
Jens Lekman, released on 21 January 2004 on Service Records.
The EP was later released as simply Rocky Dennis on Secretly
Canadian Records. The songs on this EP can also be found on
Lekman's 2005 release, Oh You're So Silent Jens.

The Swedish release showed a sky blue cover with the words,
"Someday I'll be stuffed in a museum, scaring little kids.
With the inscription Carpe Diem, something I never did."

Rocky Dennis – a boy who suffered craniodiaphyseal dysplasia
about whom the Rocky Dennis in Heaven EP was written.
Roy Lee "Rocky" Dennis (December 4, 1961 – October 4, 1978)
was an American boy afflicted with craniodiaphyseal dysplasia,
an extremely rare, sclerotic bone disorder. The condition usually
results in neurological disorders and death during childhood.
His body was donated to UCLA Medical Center after he died.
His life was the basis for the 1985 drama film Mask.

Rocky Dennis was born in Glendora, California, to Florence
"Rusty" Tullis and Roy Dennis. At the age of 2 he was diagnosed
with craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, also known as CDD or lionitis,
an extremely rare disease occurring in approximately 1 in every 220
million births, with fewer than 20 recorded cases. CDD is a bone
disorder that causes calcium to build up in the skull, disfiguring
the facial features and reducing life expectancy.

Doctors informed his mother that the pressure from the abnormal
calcium deposits in his skull would distort his face, destroy his
eyesight and hearing and, based on the handful of cases on record,
eventually destroy his brain and result in his death before his
seventeenth birthday.

Dennis experienced problems with eyesight and hearing along
with painful headaches; but he was able to do many things he
was thought not to be able to accomplish, such as learning to read.
His poor eyesight, which made him legally blind, meant
that he would never read a book. He entered school at the age of 6,
despite many of his teachers' disapproval; and, although
experiencing a slow start (he spent two years in the first grade),
he was able to make some progress thereafter before he died
at 16 years of age from his life-limiting condition. He turned down
an offer to have plastic surgery.

Dennis resided in Azusa, California. He and his mother lived
for a time in Covina, where he attended Ben Lomond Elementary
School.

Dennis's older brother, Joshua Mason, died in 1987 at age 32
from complications of AIDS. His mother, Rusty Tullis, died on
November 11, 2006, at age 70 as a result of an infection following
a motorcycle accident.[6] His sister lives in Illinois. Neither of his
siblings appeared in Mask.

Anna Hamilton Phelan wrote a screenplay based on Dennis' life;
Peter Bogdanovich directed the 1985 drama film, titled Mask,
in which Eric Stoltz portrays Dennis. In one scene in the film,
the character Dennis reads a poem to his mother, Rusty
(played by Cher), written by the real Dennis. The movie is based
very loosely on Dennis' life, with most of the scenes and dialogue
altered for dramatic purposes.

Phelan also adapted her screenplay into a stage musical of the
same name, with music by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. The
musical premiered at the Pasadena Playhouse in California on
March 12, 2008.

Swedish pop musician Jens Lekman self-published a song
called "Rocky Dennis' Farewell Song to the Blind Girl",
causing DJs to mistakenly call the musician by Rocky Dennis'
name. Lekman clarified that the song was not about himself
with the release of Rocky Dennis in Heaven, an EP containing
four songs about Dennis and his portrayal in the film.
song info:
Verified yes
LanguageEnglish
GenrePop, Indie
Rank
Duration00:03:57
Charts
Copyright ©
Writer
Lyrics licensed byLyricFind
AddedJanuary 1st, 2007
Last updatedMarch 7th, 2022
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