“Music is the literature of the heart; it commences where speech ends.”
Alphonse de Lamartine
I went to bed too late last night.
The aim is 10pm. Last night was closer to midnight. The reason was that I got sucked into a vortex on YouTube which I actively chose to enjoy and I don’t regret it a single bit. Because I stumbled across the rendition of “The Sound of Silence” by a secondary school (high school) teacher turned singer, Tom Ball from the UK.
Since we don’t watch regular television Tom has totally passed me by, but I’m glad I found him now.
The reason why this rendition stands out to me (apart from having listened to it 20+ times now) is that Simon and Garfunkel have a special place in my heart. I grew up with their music as my parents were big fans.
Then, when I came to the UK I met my late father-in-law and over the years we decorated dozens of rooms together and whenever we started a job, we would first play Simon & Garfunkel’s Best Of.
Now, when you know a song intimately and have a deep connection with it, hearing a different version of that song can oftentimes feel wrong.
But not so with Tom’s take.
It’s mesmerising.
And the reason I’m sharing this with you here is that it made me think of our duty as parents to teach our kids our ways and then let them run with it. Let them re-imagine what we show them. Let them improve on what was our best effort.
Because if we give them the space to make this world their own, they might just surprise us and create something beautiful.
And if you’ve not hear Tom’s version before, here you go:
In case you didn’t know, December in Scotland can best be described as: cold and dark.
It’s not really light until 8.30am and gets dark before 4pm.
What better time of year to attempt something foolish, something foolish 4 miles in length, several times per day for a couple of days…
The last time I did the Goggins 4x4x48 Challenge it was March, which was certainly cold, but 3 runs were during daylight. Doing it now at the darkest time of the year means running with a headtorch 5 out of 6 runs.
But as they say, Resilience is earned!
This Week’s Picture of Scotland
And if you’d like help putting systems in place to help you achieve your personal goals amidst the competing demands of work and family life, please get in touch here.
Tobi - Thank you for sharing Tom's song. Not just because it's an incredible display of talent, but the example of taking something that is already popular and known and trying to make it your own is a tall order and a big risk, but damn does he pull it off in spades. You can't help feeling like his rendition of it is the original, or should have been, the original thing. Stunning.