Young girl with a ukulele

Her song lasted less than three minutes – by the epic standards of most folk songs, hardly worth tuning up for. We regulars understood the reason for its brevity. She only really knew two chords, and struggled with the third.

It was a song called Life is Beautiful.

But this girl, this Sally Thompson, had something. I sensed it, and so did everyone else who was there that night. We held our breath as she sang her absurd nothing of a song.

When she finished, the audience roared its approval. Kevin returned to the stage, all beer-belly and smiles, and told us that Sally was ‘what it was all about’. You have to be pretty bad for Kevin to say you’re what it’s all about – it means he can’t think of anything else to say – but on this occasion, without quite knowing why, I had to agree.

She was youth. She was hope. She was innocence. These things are rare in the world, and even rarer in a folk club….

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