Kathleen Ferrier sings A Soft Day
Jan 22nd, 2009 by oldfogey
This song, perhaps more than any other, makes me feel English. Not British so much, but English. ‘British’ isn’t enough. It doesn’t capture what I feel about myself and the country I live in. Many people are British, yet despise the country. Some of them have tried to blow me up.
Sometimes, like here when I’m listening to Kathleed Ferrier, who, like me was born in Lancashire, in the North of England, I feel it distinctly, something seeping in my brain along with the sound of her unique and lovely voice . English that’s not a passion. That’s not a flag. It’s hardly an expression of pride - though pride is there somewhere, dimly. Englishness evoked in the sound of this voice, or the smile on that young girl’s face, or in that gesture – say, the half smile and vague wave of the hands (so different from the cynical Gallic shrug) that means ‘let’s not take it so seriously’
Like English summer rain. That starts falling apologetically, unsuspected. Not heralded by the fierce build up of a Mediterranean storm after weeks of fearsome heat.
Soft, not threatening.
Just like this song.
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