Today, I would like to talk about a Black British man who was singing Bon Jovi’s famous song, “Livin’ On a Prayer”, while standing inside an underground train in England. In the video bystanders recorded him on different days singing the song out loud to himself and broadcasted the compilation of him singing on YouTube. It quickly went viral, and touched so many viewers, including myself. I was so moved by the unity that I even cried.
In the beginning of the video, he has his headphones on singing and grooving loudly to the music. The audience was just watching him and most were probably thinking to themselves, “What a weird person he is!” Then one day, one person in the audience quietly began to sing with him, just a little. This behavior moved the rest of the audience. When he was about to sing the climax point, many passengers began to sing with him, just like a chorus group on the train.
It was a very impressive scene to witness. Even if it only lasted for almost a minute, I felt the unity of all the passengers as they sung the song altogether. It was a priceless moment.
As I browsed through the comments, all I saw were positive comments, praises and appreciation. This man caused it to rain with positivity. Commenters said, “The man was great, as well as Bon Jovi, who made this song into a household name, and of course, the very participative commuters.” Other viewers also left positive comments such as, “Singing has no discrimination between race or color”, “Music possesses a miraculous power to move and touch people”, Now and here we should stop the war, sing together in unity, and become comrades”, and “The first man who sang the song was awesome, but the second person who began to get into the rhythm for him made him the star, and led the other commuters to the song” What a perfect harmony!
These comments were absolutely true. I know that even when we can’t communicate with each other due to language barriers, we have a common language – music. Music connects people and brings us together, no matter our race, color, religion or beliefs. If we sing songs together, there might not be any fights or war.
This idea applies not only to music but also other areas in life. “Doing the things we have to do groovily” is the key to make people get along.
※Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9pUP3es63w