Roads to Joy

My old friend Simon Smith has embarked on a project to curate his favourite songs in a daily blog, Simon365, throughout the year. This piece is my homage to his effort — I’m in awe of his encyclopaedic music sensibility.

Yesterday evening members of the SongWave Community Choir, led by Kate Howard, were engaged in learning the song, The Joy of Living, that Ewan MacColl left the world before he died. It’s not easy to write about joy, and especially when the author is close to the darkness, any attempt to do so risks descending into maudlin grief. Somehow Ewan MacColl’s lyrics and music transcend the sadness and offer an anthem for life.

But it is a farewell. And yet, in saying goodbye Ewan manages to exalt the natural world, to offer kindly advice to his children, to hold his beloved companion in. his arms, and to encourage us to look for the joys of life at every turn.

Rather than continuing with my own words, why not spend a few minutes listening to Ewan MacColl with Peggy Seeger in the 1986 recording of this song? The accompanying video sequence on YouTube helps to exemplify the northern hills of these British Isles, bringing the lived experience that much closer.

And then the very best thing we all can do is to go out today and experience afresh the joy of living.