ON opening The Herald I first read Poem of the Day and then, as they are on the same page, the Obituaries. On January 7 it was interesting to find a connection. It was sad to read of the death of Dean Ford but interesting to note that he and his group had covered one of the Beatles’ songs of the 1960s: ob-la-di-ob-la-da.
In Poem of the Day, Matt Goodfellow wrote: “There’s meadow-music in the dark”. Also in the 1960s, on setting up our first home, Jim and I were adopted by a beautiful blackbird that sat on the chimney-pot and sing as dusk descended what sounded just like ob-la-di. I have heard many blackbirds over the intervening years but never another singing those notes.
I was disappointed to hear on Radio 4 that birds do not sing; they are communicating with each other. For me they will always be singing. I still miss hearing the blackbird we christened Ob-La-Di, after the song but I still hear “meadow-music in the dark”.
Thelma Edwards,
Old Comrades Hall.
Hume, Kelso.
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