Robert Birming

Space for the impossible

If you read up on Swedish music, one band is bound to pop up sooner or later: Broder Daniel (Brother Daniel).

They were an indie band from Gothenburg, and their track Shoreline became legendary here in Sweden. So much that shouting “Spela Shoreline!” (“Play Shoreline!”) turned into a national joke that people still pull at concerts, no matter who’s on stage.

This great song came on today while I was biking home from work, and it got me thinking about other tracks with a similar theme. I started blending their lyrics together in my head:

And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily
Oh, joyfully, oh, playfully watching me
But then they sent me away to teach me how to be sensible
Logical, oh, responsible, practical

Hey, teacher, leave us kids alone
All in all, you're just another brick in the wall

I'm not the boy that I used to be
This town has got the youth of me
All the eyes turn hollow
From the work of sorrow

Do you recognize them? If not, you’ll find the answer at the end of this post.

I love all of these songs. But they also make me a bit sad, reminding me how much of that youthful and unconditional joy, curiosity, and creativity tends to fade as we move through life.

We need schooling, of course. Education is one of the most important things there is. We live, we learn, and hopefully that knowledge helps us make progress — not just on a personal level, but as a whole.

But it shouldn’t have to come at the cost of losing the childlike creative mind. We should be able to encourage and make room for those untethered and “impossible” ideas of youth, while still leaving space for logical reasoning and learning.

Looking at the world today, it feels like we have nothing to lose by at least trying. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll wake up to a world where the impossible has become reality.

That’s a dream I truly hope will come true.

The lyrics are from: