Not to put a damper on the holiday season, but did you hear about the Belgian man who was misdiagnosed as comatose for a shocking 23 years? A scan revealed that his brain is active and has been functional during the two decades he spent in a hospital bed. And now, through a special keyboard attached to his wheelchair, instead of lambasting the doctors responsible for the misdiagnosis, he instead chooses to "be optimistic and get out of life what he can." As he explained quite graciously: ''I knew what I could do and what I was capable of but other people had a rather pathetic image of me. I had to learn to be patient and now finally we are on an equal footing." Something to remember when counting blessings this year.

For this list, I included outsider songwriter Bobb Trimble's 1982 "Paralyzed" as well early synth(wave) experimentalist Ilitch/Thierry Muller, British pre-punk motorcycle gang Crushed Butler, and psych-folk innovator Tim Buckley. We also have JJ's "My Hopes and Dreams," since the "coma patient" Rom Houben apparently learned to wile away the hours by daydreaming. The list ends on a fittingly positive note, with Aphrodite's Child's beautiful "I Want To Live" and Claire Hamill's ethereal "Awaken-Lark Rise." And, no, I didn't include "One" by Metalllica.


Paralyzed Bobb Trimble