What Colour Is the Wind

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For 22 years I just played in the pubs and clubs and never said a word. Just to lighten it up I started to tell little stories between the songs. I wasn't really aware of how important that was until a fellow from Derbyshire came to me afterwards and said, 'You were grand tonight lad, but I'm a bit disappointed because you hardly told any stories and that's all I came for'. So it's become an important part of the show. I think it gives people an insight into your character."

I don't buy anything at all now, because I've such a vast selection of barmy things. As for the hair, I've always liked long hair, though obviously in the army I had to have it short – it's one of the reasons I got out. Somebody said it's like money, it's not what colour it is, as long as you've plenty of it," he laughs. The richness of that otherness is what Belgian artist and author Anne Herbauts came to see in a surprising and profound question from a blind child. During a bookmaking workshop she was leading, a little boy asked her whether she, as an artist, could tell him what color the wind was — a notion of the same trans-sensory, synesthetic quality as Helen Keller’s electrifying account of “hearing” Beethoven. Often described as the ultimate storyteller, the yarns and stories he tells between his songs brings a sense of intimacy to his concerts. Children tend to see the world as very binary. I think this book is a good challenge for a child's way of thinking in that it gets to see that many things in life are complicated and have many nuances. Sometimes the sum of its parts is what defines something.What Color is the Wind? is an interactive sensory book for kids with beautiful illustrations and a simple, engaging story. While this thought-provoking story might go over the heads of some little ones, the offbeat questions, beautiful artwork, and unique multi-sensory approach will be simply enchanting for creative-minded children." — Booklist Other artists had approached me for the song and I remember my wife saying to me 'if you give that song away I will strangle you'. So to avoid strangulation I recorded it myself and that song, together with My Forever Friend, turned the tide for me."

laughs it's a fantastic you know if if you are a reminding people of the good Lord that's much absolutely and I don't take exception to that US oil I'm dead they did a funny thing actually I did a game show in Dublin and they had two pianos if I get the name of it but there was a pianist in the middle and two celebrities a boy and a girl either side of it and I was one of the celebrities and the following day in the Irish independence it had this wonderful Haggard face of me you know the honker and it said Artie pull off a coup last night they managed to Sebring on board the cheering shroud but that's exactly what I looked like on it you know ya know I take that as a compliment but it's great and now you're a super songwriter and you thank you massive hits for lots of different people tell us some of the people you've written for well the nice thing of that came above through the song right there's the people that I've met I mean there and I've become since become great friends with people like With plans to release a new album later this year, Charlie is certainly not contemplating retirement and he's optimistic that the Landsborough name will carry on in musical circles for generations to come. I might look like that, and one of the lads may join you. Then one of the lads, James, has years of experience as a fine acoustic guitar player and a fine singer in his own right, so I'm thinking of bringing them on board and having them do some harmonies with me. yeah Charlie What makes a good song? I think if you can write something that sort of everybody's experienced but put it in a new way so that whenever anybody hears it they think I know what he's talking about yeah and I think simplicity is the most difficult thing to achieve I mean you listen to wonderful songs like say smile for example hardly any lyrics there but it's everything that needs to be said is said in that short space and the accompany that with a wonderful melody and I think that's it now live on forever so my aspiration is to write something that good that people will want to sing you know under do each time a song yeah but it's very difficult to to categorize exactly what's going to work and what's nothing oh yeah so didI was a grocery store manager railways flour mills you name it and lastly I was a teacher for 14 years but the dream was always a musical long really you ready teach you for 14 years I was is this in Birkenhead yeah in the same area where I lived and it was funny that must have been fun well if part of it was and part of it I mean I was so glad to leave people had this misconception that you were having a wonderful time and it must have been a real you know strain to pull away from it yeah I was so delighted when the Irish people rescued me it was it was so stressful but at the same time it had wonderful aspects to it and I used to get requests in the playground they said me mom said will you play crazy for a tonight in the pub so everybody knew what it would wear me how it really lay but I haven't said that I met wonderful kids and wonderful staff who were still friends now that's brilliant are you still in you're still based in Birkenhead value I am yet although even Peter Lindbergh and a

With that, because I'd never been a child in real life, he said, No, dad, you're number two. I was number one the following week and all of Ireland went out and bought that song so I'm eternally grateful to the artist people because if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be here what's for the future Charlie well I never looked too far ahead you know you've just celebrated your birthday I have do you dare want to tell us well I'll tell you I'm 69 years of age and I still feel like 69 years you know you look good freshness Velma well, she's delighted because for years while I was playing in the pub, she was shattered in the house mind and the kids in the dog and everything, and as this success arrived late, all the kids had grown, so now we'd yet set round the world, you know, doing You're an artist who certainly hasn't had the success overnight, that's for sure. A lot of hard work has gone into you, and you've really had to work hard. What advice would you give a new budding writer? I would say to them be inspired by other people but strive to be your own person. Musically, it's great to take sort of influences from here, there, and everywhere; everybody's done it, me included; but then to strive to find something uniquely your own is all I'm used to; I used to admire, say, Dylan and the Beatles and all these wonderful writers, but then you think, Oh, I'm just Charlie . I'm not that, so I would say strive to be your own person. Musically, don't be put off by rejection because everybody's rejected me many times, but even people as great as Elvis Presley and the Beatles were rejected, so don't be disheartened by that, be yourself, don't lose her, and put a bit of faith in the man upstairs. Charlie Thank you so much for joining us. We wish you the very best for the year coming. My oldest grandson, Charlie, is 17. He was surfing in Cornwall all last week and has a surfing type hairstyle. I'm delighted he's taken up the guitar again as he's very talented so hopefully the musical thread will carry on." This book is the perfect example of an interactive picture book. Where the text--poetic and anaphoric--is beautiful in its own right, it is the illustrations where we gather further, more in-depth meaning. This book does not mention once that the little giant is blind, but the text asks us to ponder a question that those of us with sight think is an easy question to answer: what color is the wind? We know that the wind does not have a color, not really--but to someone who has a different way of navigating his world, this is not straightforward. We must rely on other senses. When the bees say the wind is the color of sunshine, we can assume that it's artistic in that sunshine also doesn't really have a color, but it also evokes a sense of warmth, the reminder of summer, the ability to relax.Despite having performed since he was a teenager, his big break didn't happen until he was in his 50s, when after appearances on Pat Kenny on RTE and The Gerry Anderson Show on the BBC, What Colour Is the Wind reached number one in the Irish charts. One of his most successful releases, Still Can't Say Goodbye was recorded in Nashville in 1999 and resulted in Landsborough winning the BMCA Best Male Vocalist (2000) for the third year in succession, and the Southern Country Award for best album. He has performed at most major concert halls and theatres in the UK, including the London Palladium. He also toured Australia and New Zealand in 2001. [4] Charles Alexander Landsborough (born 26 October 1941) is a British country and folk musician and singer-songwriter. [1] He started singing professionally in the 1970s, although his major success did not come until 1994 with his song "What Colour is the Wind". He is one of the UK's top country acts and is also popular in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. A young lad called Paddy sang it in front of the whole school. He had that strength in character which meant kids respected him, rather than sniggered at him. He did a great job, but then I buried the song for a long time. The story’s protagonist, whom Herbauts affectionately calls “the little giant,” goes in search of an answer to his synesthetic question. Every piece of nature he encounters gives him a different answer — to the bee, the wind is the warm color of the sun; the old dog, who perceives the world through smell, experiences it as “pink, flowery, pale white”; to the wolf, it smells of the forest; for the mountain, the wind is a bird; for the window, it is the color of time.

One song in particular was to transform his life. What Colour is the Wind tells the story of a young blind child’s attempts to envision the world. Following the album's success in Ireland, Landsborough appeared on several TV shows in the UK. Since then, he has released ten additional albums, including originals, greatest hits and double CDs of previous releases. Overall, sales of his albums have exceeded 700,000 units. He also has had two number ones singles in the Irish pop chart, and several of his albums have topped the British country charts. In 1996, he converted to Catholicism. [3] I also think this is a great book for adolescents and adults in that it reminds them/us that even when we think we've figured out a concept like love and acceptance, there may be more to learn and maybe what we understand now isn't the "true" understanding. One Easter Sunday I was playing at a country music club and thought it was an appropriate day to play a gospel music song, and I got an amazing response. Sometimes you are too close to something to be able to appreciate the worth of it. People gave me the belief in those songs long before I had the belief in them myself."There are differences among reviewers as to the age group this book is aimed at. Its format is 'picture book', which tend to be for pre-schoolers, though there are a good number of picture books aimed at slightly older kids (and of course the genre of 'sophisticated picture book' which might even be aimed at adults). One review I read recommended this book for ages 5+, another for ages 9+. Personally, because of its simplicity and because picture books with a tactile component are generally marketed for ages 2 to4, I would place it on a bookshop's shelves in the pre-school area. While 5 and 6 year-olds (and often even older) would enjoy this book, I wouldn't expect them to be the prime market as there is no real narrative. thinking an Englishman going into Ireland you know and I was there like a day and I realized how stupid that was and yeah i was just playing in little pubs and things but there was a lovely funny story which came out of it i played i went into the palace bar and Athlon which is run by a great friend of ours and their plane was Seamus Shannon a wonderful according accordion player and a great act himself and he says had two famous people have just walked in our own Tony Allen and the marvelous singer-songwriter from Liverpool he said Charlie land straight and of course nobody dared me and nobody knew me and I sat down and they were all saying Charlie who you know they'd all had Tony obviously and this bloke sat next to me we had a lovely conversation and a couple of pints and as he said to me charlie is that right he wrote the songs I said I wrote song he said what did you write and I said they're all part of me I will love you all my life and he said you sure I've never heard of them I said it doesn't matter because I'm not a small This book is built around the premise that sometimes when we want to define something that is abstract, we can't always find just one definition that gives us a true understanding. Instead, sometimes it's an experience or the journey to understand the abstract that gives us a better idea of what it is. A blind child asks what color the wind is. He gets different answers from those he asks. The wolf says the wind is “the dark smell of the forest.” The bees say the wind is “the color of sunshine.” The rain says nothing! But the bees say “the color of sunshine.” At the end the child reaches a giant who says that the wind is the color of all of these things.