Young at Heart

During last night's edition of Night Line, an interview with a choir director absolutely mesmerized me. He had worked for years with a group of senior citizens who loved rock and roll, alternative and contemporary music. I thought... What a great idea! They had video footage, and sure enough, when I looked it up on YouTube, there they were. So...this version of "Fix You" (by Coldplay) is my inspiration for the day. I love the song, but somehow the lyrics took on a new meaning in this performance. The interview revealed that three weeks earlier, the soloist's partner (it was meant to be a duet) died, but the performance went on...

Here's a link to a movie trailer about the group.

So...I was thinking...Wouldn't it be interesting to actually study the lyrics, then watch the original video version of this tune (with the lyrics in front of you), and then watch the Young at Heart version of the same song (again with the lyrics in front of you)? I think my students would have had a great discussion (some interesting blogging) about how the lyrics took on new meaning, depending on which version they watched.

...And I think that if I were still in my own classroom, I would have been excited to teach this lesson (I'm a nerd), especially when we studied Romeo and Juliet. Think of the possibilities....What would these lyrics have meant to Romeo? Juliet? Paris? Lord Capulet? Lady Capulet? etc., etc., etc...