I wanna tell you a story.
My Dad died from cancer 2 years 8 months ago tomorrow.
He (we) was lucky in that he had Pancreatic cancer which is normally totally untreatable, however, Dad’s cancer was a very rare one which was treatable (but uncurable).
One day he was to start some cheamotherapy and was being driven to hospital by my Brother. Dad was panicing, as you can imagine he was in a very stressful position. Anyway, he was in the car and his mind was racing. The radio was always on in the car, as Dad’s worry grew every inch he moved closer to the hospital _Three Little Birds_ by _Bob Marley_ came on the radio.
*It changed Dad’s life.*
He listened to the lyric and realised this wasn’t how he wanted to be – he had to use his energy to fight not for worrying. He saw a message in the music, in the fact that it came on at exactly the right time to make a difference to him.
That song became (and still is) our family’s anthem in times of despair. We played it at my Dad’s funeral because that would have been the message he wanted to give everyone that loved him and was in pain.
It’s such a special song to me now – it’s synonymous with my Dad. It feels like a message from him. It makes me feel like he’s here in even a little way because now those words feel like they are his. Thank you Bob Marley.
I marvel at the power of music, that such a simple thing can make such a massive difference. I love music, the first thing I bought when I got my first paycheck, in Japan, was a stereo.
Here we go, my top 10 songs that mean something to me:
# Bob Marley – Three Little Birds
# Foo Fighters – My Hero (makes me think of my Dad)
# Puff Daddy – Every Breath You Take (even my Dad liked this one!)
# The Supernaturals – Smile (Nats gigs with Mike)
# QFX – Freedom (reminds me of the summer I left school)
# Reef – Hands (second year at uni)
# Oasis – Stop Crying Your Heart Out (just beautiful)
# Slade – Cos I Love You (last year of uni, getting pissed with Ian)
# The Beatles – Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
# Cast – Walkaway
I’m sure it would be different if I did this tomorrow. I bought a copy of Bob Marley’s greatest hits yesterday (because of _Three Little Birds_) I guess that’s where all this came from.