There are lots of songs that make my cry or get choked up, but not all of them are sad songs. I heard this particular song for the first time at my place of employment, The Boston Public Library. In fact, the video below is recorded from that very performance. I was incredibly moved by this performance, and the story behind the song. The performer was Australian superstar Missy Higgins, who was appearing in a fantastic program with best-selling thriller writer Harlan Coben. The would talk about their writing styles and the differences and similarities between writing a novel and writing a song. This song is the title-track to her debut album, The Sound of White. She wrote the song while in boarding school when she found out her cousin died of cancer. She went into the chapel to try to understand the emotions that she was feeling, and the quality of the silence struck her. It’s a beautiful song made all the more poignant to me for having seen this performance. Plus she was a pretty cool person. The video isn’t the best quality, and you can find better versions on YouTube, but I thought since this was the actual performance that I first heard, I would use it.
Here’s Missy Higgins performing The Sound of White at the Boston Public Library.