"The Day the Music...came alive"

I met a girl who sang the blues, and I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the sacred store, where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play, mmm
And in the streets the children screamed, the lovers cried and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken, the church bells all were broken
And the three men I admire most: the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast the day the music died.

And they were singing
Bye bye Miss American Pie, drove my Chevy to the levy
But the levy was dry
And them good 'ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye singin'
This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die.
It was a sad,sad day in February that Don McLean wrote about in his song "American Pie." The song described a plane crash that took the lives of 3 amazing musical artists. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.

However for Deaf people, the song does not go on. Those who have been Deaf since birth, I believe, are a little bit luckier than those who have lost their hearing later in life. They don't know what they are missing. I don't know what I would do if I completely lost my hearing at this time in my life.( I hope karma isn't listening because I already have some amount of hearing loss thanks to a lot of really good music turned up really loud for most of my life.)
Oh sure, Deaf people can feel the music if it has a strong bass and is turned up really loud but they miss out on the lyrics. The blood, sweat and tears that the artist took anywhere from 2 minutes to 2 years to write out on paper. The Deaf are missing out on some amazing lyrics. Like the song above, there are some very talented artists out there who need to be "heard" for what they put down on paper.

Fortunately there is an answer in Garland, Texas for the Deaf. And that answer is Ally Townsend. She was recently featured on World News with Diane Sawyer and has become an overnight Internet sensation. Ally plays songs from popular artists from today and years past and as the song plays in the background she uses American Sign Language to interpret the lyrics of the song. Her facial expressions and level of passion while interpreting the song is like nothing I have ever seen before. I am part of the "MTV generation." I grew up watching all the 80's music videos time and time again. In those videos, it was a chance for the artist of the song to interpret what the song meant to him or her. However I got more out of Ally's interpretation of the song in ASL than all of the 80's music videos combined.

Thank you Ally for sharing your talent and passion with all of us. You are truly an amazing person who's calling in life has been answered.

Ally's videos can be found on youtube.com and on facebook.com. Just search "Ally ASL." Some of the videos have no sound as Ally is signing without music. But go out and search for "God's Amazing Grace","TikTok", "I Saw God Today" and several, several others.

Get a cup of coffee and sit back and enjoy being inspired by this amazing, talented, passionate person.