Love in your Heart
From the Album The Minstrel
There’s a place of darkness in the heart of everyone
A distant echo of a song that once was sung
Memories may torment and tear your soul apart
But you’ve got to keep love in your heart
There’s a lesson forgotten for every lesson learned
A child that goes hungry for every candle burned
No one knows the ending, but we all know where to start
We’ve got to keep love in our hearts
Chorus
How do you feel at the end of the day
When you’re sitting on your own
Does it comfort you to know that you were right
It’s easy to laugh in the safety of friends
At those who stand alone
But so much braver to open your heart
There’s a flower that lies dormant in the cruellest of man
Left to himself he does all that he can
Sometimes we must fight him, but we do so in the dark
So we’ve got to keep love in our heart
There’s a life that begins for everyone that ends
To each and every child there’s one message we must send
We all stand together, so we all must do our part
We’ve got to keep love in our heart
If you’re looking for an answer
Here’s where you’ve got to start
You’ve got to keep love
You’ve got to keep love
Yes you’ve got to keep love
In your heart
THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG
Sometimes things go so wrong that their memory leaves a warm glow in our hearts.
It was 2015 and for a laugh I thought I would apply to the TV program Britain’s Got Talent and one of my videos got me through the first round. I was well aware that mine was not the kind of talent they were searching for and that I had no chance of getting through the next round but I thought it would be a fun and an interesting experience. Rather than rush back the same day I treated myself to a night in a hotel.
Driving from my mother’s house near Worthing I hadn’t even reached the outskirts of London before I needed to pee. By the time I had got to Streatham High Street I was so desperate, I emptied my water bottle and was preparing to pee into it. The problem was, the traffic was horrendous, and the pavements jammed solid with people so I was afraid if I took out my Hampton for a pee I might get arrested for flashing. I had to do something as I was in real physical pain. I passed a pub and turned up the next side road and parked on a single yellow line. I literally ran to the pub and back which took no longer than five minutes. On my return there was a traffic warden on a moped writing out a ticket. I was not causing an obstruction and had only been a few minutes but there was no reasoning with the warden as he slapped me with a £120 parking fine.
I was staying at a hotel connected to the audition venue and suspected there might be a problem with the GPS when it informed me with great authority that I had arrived at my destination when I was in the middle of an underpass. It was a nightmare finding the venue without GPS so instead of relaxing before the audition, I had to get changed quickly and rush there.
As expected, there was a lot of waiting around and I got to meet some very interesting people. I knew I was hopelessly outclassed when I saw my competition included two chickens that played keyboards and a dancing pool player. There was also a man whose talent was to make the most disgusting burping noises, but I felt the need to distance myself from his rehearsal area. Unsurprisingly, he went all the way through the audition process and even got onto the TV show.
Finally, I was shown into a small room where an attractive young woman asked me to sing while they filmed me. I was supposed to sing two songs but ended up singing four. This is the song that seemed to grab her attention as I suppose the sentiment behind it would play well with their audience.
I was given the usual “don’t call us, we’ll call you” speech and spent the rest of the day wandering around looking at the other acts waiting to be auditioned. The atmosphere alone made the trip well worthwhile.
On the way home the next day I thought I would visit one of my favourite childhood haunts The Imperial War Museum. I was surprised to find so many empty parking meters outside and at £5 it seemed a reasonable parking charge even if the last time I was there it only cost 50p. Then I discovered it was £5 for half an hour so it ended up costing me £30.
A few days later I received a fine through the post for driving through London without paying the congestion charge. I had assumed the charge was only for central London and didn’t know it included Tower Bridge. If I had seen any notices around, of course I would have gone online and paid, but there was nothing. That fine was £60, and the hire car company also charged £60 administration so the grand total for the audition was close to £400.
That was six years ago, and they still haven’t got around to calling me.
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