Edwyn Collins: What Is My Role?

Track of the Week - 13 March 2016

If you work for a large organisation you're probably aware with the concept of an 'away day'. A team leaves its usual environment to discuss results, strategy and/or have a bit of team-building fun.

My work family had one of these events this week and we welcomed some of our new members into the fold. Among the items we worked through on the day was a 'what would happen if you didn't do your job' exercise. I won't go into details but it would be bad.

It's a useful point to consider and goes some way to answering the 'What is my role?' question posed by Edwyn Collins (ably assisted by Ryan Jarman of The Cribs) in this excellent song from the superb 2010 album Losing Sleep.

You may know Edwyn from his work with pioneering Scottish post-punk popsters Orange Juice.  Or maybe you're only familiar with his 1994 smash hit A Girl Like You.

What you might not know is that his track comes from the first album he recorded after two cerebral haemorrhages in 2005 nearly killed him and left him only able to repeat four phrases, over and over again: "yes", "no", "Grace Maxwell" (his wife's name) and "the possibilities are endless". His recovery owes much to his wife, the medical staff, the astonishing way the brain works and perhaps even a healing power in music.

I saw him play at the Bristol Bierkeller not long after the album was released. He walked uncertainly with the aid of a stick and spoke with difficulty but when the music began his singing voice was as rich and uplifting as ever. The new songs sounded great and the old ones transported me back to my late teens and early twenties. It was emotional, spine-tingling stuff.

You can find out more in the book 'Falling and Laughing: The Restoration of Edwyn Collins' if you like reading and I've provoked an interest. Perhaps listening to this song will help.