Learning your song…
by
Owen Jones
In my dream last night, there were people lining, or creating, a sort of a street about twenty persons deep, and I was one of them. The atmosphere was fantastic – a bit like London’s Notting Hill or New Orleans’ Mardi Gras Carnivals.
The stage was the gap – the roadway, if you like – between the two crowds that stood facing one another about ten metres apart. Performers were taking it in turns to do their thing on this stage in the gap, which was about fifty metres long.
As I stood watching, swaying a little to the music like most of the other spectators, a tall, gangly, thin old black man, who vaguely reminded me of a bald Chuck Berry stopped in front of me as he was doing his act, and said, “It’s your turn! The people want to hear your song!”
“I don’t have a song”, I replied.
In response, he took me by the wrist, and said, “Everyone has a song”.
He led me by the arm up the gap between the two crowds in that dancing-walk that people do in joyous processions frequently glancing at me and all the while smiling at me and the crowds in turn
My Dream Song
I was very shy, not embarrassed, but I didn’t know what to do.
Eventually, I began to hum, and then sing words that I thought only he could hear. He encouraged me, and the onlookers seemed to do so too, although I couldn’t understand how they could hear me above the noise of the crowd.
Gradually, I started to sing slightly louder. The spectators could not have heard me, but they smiled and moved rhythmically, swaying to and fro to the rhythm of my song.
As I gained confidence, my song grew louder. I stumbled over some of the words and phrases. It didn’t seem to matter though… People were on my side, and I loved them and my old guide for it.
I woke up before I had finished singing my song, but I still had the words running around my brain.
It was Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds”.
I have been singing that song, to myself, all day so far. However, maybe I’ll pluck up the courage to sing it loud enough for someone else to overhear later as I did in my dream last night.
Best wishes,
Owen.
PS: Put a smile on your face! Here’s a recording of Bob Marley and The Wailers on YouTube singing this song (not me!). The lyrics are there too: Three Little Birds