I misheard the lyrics to a Pink Floyd song and was inspired.
The song is intended to inspire, so mission accomplished, but not quite as directly as I was inspired.
The song is “Fearless,” from the band’s album Meddle, and the lyrics are about doing what seems to be impossible.
You say the hill’s too steep to climb, chiding
You say you’d like to see me try climbing
You pick the place and I’ll choose the time
And I’ll climb the hill in my own way …
Eventually the song morphs into the sound of a soccer crowd singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” It’s an uplifting recording, in its own way.
But that’s not quite the way I heard it.
For the first decade or so, before I saw the lyrics written down, I thought they sang:
YOU SAY THE HILL’S TOO STEEP TO CLIMB? CLIMB IT!
It’s that simple. You’ve got a hill to climb? It seems daunting? I’ll bet it does. Now that’s out of the way, go ahead and start climbing.
That’s probably not very different from what writers David Gilmour and Roger Waters intended, but it struck me even more powerfully than they intended because I misheard it.
I climbed that hill in my own way.