Susan Boyle - Cry Me A River

When my friend and fellow writer/heretic, Sandy Bucholtz, sent me the YouTube of Susan Boyle, I sat with tears running and listened in awe. I wasn't the only one either. Not by millions. Since that first viewing, I've probably tuned into the same video 8 or 9 times. Each time, I have the same reaction. So I wondered, why? What is it about this woman, or her rendition of a magnificent song, that keeps touching me so deeply?

So far, I've come up with two answers that seem true. One--that she is the 'every Man' --that part of all of us who've had impossible dreams. In Susan Boyle, we witnessed the possibilities of our own dreams coming true. All of us who've sung in the shower, in our cars at the top of our lungs, into hair-brushes--always in secret, praying we'd never get caught. And I do believe that all of us, with the exception of socio-paths, have the fear that we're inadequate. That we could never really fit it completely, never really be one of the beautiful people... So, when this beauty from a little village in Scotland, too old, with too bushy eyebrows, opened her mouth and sang, we all, I mean, all --stood up and cheered. (Well, Simon didn't, but then--did you get a load of the expression of absolute LOVE on his face?!) Universally, we humans love miracles.

But, there was something else. Something more. Something that as an artist myself, I recognize. It was the truth. When an artist in any medium stands up and strips themselves naked to tell the truth to the whole world, they transcend themselves. They even transcend their medium. Everyone recognizes it, whether they have a trained eye, ear or literary sense. It's the pure soul reaching out to touch the rest of humanity. But it only succeeds when it's the truth. There are countless singers, many of them probably better technically than Susan. But, if they are performing, rather than giving, if they don't really feel the song, or if they are hiding behind technique somehow, then they are not being totally truthful. It doesn't matter how good they are, they will not raise goosebumps. They will not inspire... which means 'to breath life into'...

So, just in case you think it might have been a one-shot deal, listen to Susan sing, Cry Me A River...

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