Tossing Around Tunes


Like most four year olds, my daughter, Enya, is a steady stream of consciousness from the time she pops open her lids at 06:30 until she plops her noggin down at half past eight in the evening. She’s a pretty happy child most of the time, quite often breaking into song as she plods about. I must say I was a bit taken aback (with pride mind you) when she was roaming about the house melodiously singing a tune by The Tossers, repeating the refrain “There’s no drink, there’s no booze and it’s no fun” over and over. She’s also memorized a considerable amount of Great Big Sea’s catalogue and much of Bruce Springsteen’s new album (“Old Man Tucker” seemingly her favorite). I’m so happy to see her not only tapping into her Celtic blood, but to just be so free with song. Certainly my biggest regret was waiting until my 30’s before actually learning to play an instrument. Nothing sets my sprits higher than sitting down with a cup of coffee, tea or dram of Laphraoig and belting out a tune or two.

There are no wiser words than those of Bob Marley: “One good thing about music, when it hits you feel okay!”