Hope

[shadowkat]

You've all probaly seen this already - it's spread like wildfire today, even my Dad emailed me the youtube link. But before I even got the email from my Dad, my work colleague told me that she'd seen this performance from the British Version of American Idol (it's actually not, it's the British verison of America's Got Talent, which the Yanks ripped off of the Brits). Anyhow she said when the woman came out, this older woman, 47 years of age (most of the folks in my work place are between the ages of 45-60, Anna and I are the youngsters at 28 and 42 respectively.), and sang - my colleague, who is 50, said chills went up her spine. The woman was that good. And she sang this song from Les Mis - the signature song, I Have A Dream.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY&feature=related

Couldn't watch it at work - no access and no ability to watch vids. But when I came home - I did. And...the moment she started singing, chills went up my spine and the tears rolled down my cheeks. I was that moved. She said she dreamed of sounding like and being Elain Page. Honey, you may not look like Elaine Page, but your voice rocks right up there with hers, it may even be better than Elaine Page's, because Elaine Page never moved me to tears - and I happen to love Elaine Page.

Watching that video just...gives me hope.

Comments

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

I really loved that too! Actually this sweet woman, Susan Boyle, really was very well suited to the lyrics of the song:

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life woth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.

Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used
And wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung
No wine untasted.

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
As they turn your dream to shame.

And still
I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms
We cannot weather...

I had a dream my life would be
So different form this hell I'm living
so different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Agreed - the song choice was pitch perfect for the singer. Often you see young, beautiful twenty-somethings sing that song - and it's just not believable and sounds a little whiny. But for someone who has lived and struggled, with the wear and tear on their face - yes it works.

That's the problem with a lot of the American Idol songs - the songs are often too old for the singers, they don't have the vocal range nor the life-experience that only time can give you to have earned the words inside the song.

In the musical - the person who sings it is young, but she's also very old, she's lived a hellish life, struggled on the streets and yearns to be with a beautiful man, who has not suffered.

I love the song...but I think I love it more now and understand it better now, than I did when I first heard it over 20 years ago.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

The reactions of the live audience, Piers, Simon and the woman judge were all priceless. They'd begun by jeering Susan, laughing at her, rolling their eyes, then the moment they heard that first lyric, you saw the jaws drop. The woman judge's jaw literally dropped, she just sat there for five minutes with her mouth hanging open. Piers was laughing and smiling and crying. Simon just smiling. And the crowd silent in amazement, then erupting in spontaneous applause. She got an instant standing ovation.

It's as if...people were reminded that you can't make assumptions, that what we see is not always what is true or what we think it is, and yes, we can still be wonderfully surprised. As the judges said afterwards - we needed that reminder, we'd gotten so cynical, we thought we saw it all - we needed to be humbled.