Last weekend’s Sunday Herald carried an article about Edwyn Collins. The headline spread over two pages was “I’m happy basically….but before my stroke, I wasn’t really”. Well, as you might imagine, that caught my attention.
Edwyn Collins is a singer. You maybe remember his 1994 hit “A girl like you”
Just over couple of years ago, aged 44, he suffered a stroke. A serious stroke, paralysing his right side and taking away his speech. But here’s a man who doesn’t give up. Through determined rehab with incredible loving support from his wife he’s not only singing again but is about to release a new album. Although right handed he’s also taught himself how to draw again using his left hand! It’s an amazing interview.
I have a stroke to deal with. But I’m feeling positive. And feeling relaxed, and generally focussed on things. I’m relaxed and dreaming all the time. So my life is happy at the moment. I feel connected. I feel alive again.
His wife adds
I think you’re a better tempered person. You cope. And you have patience. And you’re not self-pitying at all. You’re not even depressed………We’ve got so much to feel…….
and Edwyn finishes her sentence
…..to feel grateful for.
Well, what do you think? Health and the absence of disease are not the same. It’s wrong of us to write people off who have a chronic illness or disability. You can experience “health” in both the absence and the presence of disease.
This is a story of someone who believes their life got better through the experience of recovery from illness (same kind of story Lance Armstrong tells in his autobiography, It’s Not About the Bike). Notice the elements of Edwyn’s story. All of these were involved, sorry, are involved in his recovery –
- hope
- loving relationships
- determination
- patience
- an absence of self-pity
- a capacity to cope
- creativity
- music
- drawing
- slowing down
- reflection
- dreaming
- gratitude
Worth thinking about?
Finally, when I searched for him on youtube I first found A Girl Like You but then I found this – I’m sorry I can’t show that video clip here, the person who posted it to youtube has disabled embedding but please follow that link and listen to the lyrics. “Make Me Feel Again” was recorded in 1993. Don’t you think that’s amazing?
Heroes Not Zombies 
here are the lyrics for Make me Feel Again (which is on the Gorgeous George album by the way!)
Make me feel again
five twenty five on a monday morning
I’m lying on my unmade bed
outside these walls there’s a new day dawning
as the sky turns from black to red
but I can’t sleep a wink
am I losing control
I’m doubled up in agony
won’t you help me unfold
don’t need no forward planner
I’m acting on a whim
just need your bedside manner
to make me well again
don’t need no easy glamour
that much I figured out
forget this melodrama
because what its all about is the…
the way you turned your head
when I called your name
all I need’s your love
to make me feel again
the way you turned your head
when I called your name
all I need’s your love
to make me feel again
six twenty six on a monday evening
and I make for the great outdoors
and I can’t seem to shake off this restless feeling
I doubt I can take much more
No I can’t live this life
am I losing my mind
I’m twisted up inside
so won’t you help me unwind?
don’t need no forward planner
I’m acting on a whim
just need your bedside manner
so will you let me in?
don’t need no easy glamour
that much I figured out
forget this melodrama
cos what its all about is the…
the way you turned your head
when I called your name
all I need’s your love
to make me feel again
[repeat]
[…] think there are a number of interesting aspects to this story. Firstly, it does remind me of Edwyn Collin’s story, which is also a remarkable story of stroke recovery involving music. Secondly, right at the […]