I have favourite singers and bands …. not based on their music so much …. but on my ability to sing along to them.
Bic Runga, Deni Hines, Aqua, Evanescence (yes this is a push), Gotye, The Carpenters, P!NK, Chris Isaak, Dido, Fleetwood Mac (as long as its the girls singing, can’t stand the guy), Everything but the Girl, Jewel, Peter Gabriel, Sade plus the music of my childhood.
My dad had a beautiful voice …. a rich, vibrant voice, that echoed the simple joy he felt when he sung. His tendency to sing to NannyJ “I’ll take you home again Kathleen”, his tormenting of me with “Danny Boy”, the sound of his huge voice in our tiny church, belting out the hymns, the sound of his huge voice, echoing around the campfire after a day of fishing (and drinking), with his drunken rendition of Amazing Grace or many other songs he loved. He loved xmas carols, opera, country music, hymns and in his last years …Celine Dion.
*pause for a few tears*
I feel sorry for my husband, that he never had the chance to experience my father’s voice, not only its quality, but the sheer joy of it.
And so I sing. I am told I sing well, that I have a beautiful voice, a high sorprano?? I have no idea of terminology. I have music playing at all times in the house, I sometimes think I can’t drive if I am not singing as well. I sing along to the music at the shopping centre, I sang to my babies, I sang to Isabeau, I sing to myself. At times I sing to stave off tears, at times I sing even through the tears.
This gift of my father’s ……. its a wonderful gift. Today it makes me sad though.
