“You’ll Never Walk Alone” — Captain Tom Moore, Michael Ball and the NHS Voices of Care Choir

Photo by Alex Duffy on Unsplash

It’s not often a 100 year-old war veteran tops the UK pop charts with a 75 year-old song, but that’s what happened this week.

I say “not often”. I actually mean “it’s never happened before”.

Before Tom Moore, or Captain Tom as he’s become known, the previous record-holder was another Tom . Back in 2009 Tom Jones, a comparative lightweight at 68 years and nine months, topped the charts to beat the record Louis Armstrong had set in 1968 when he took “What A Wonderful World” to the top spot at the age of 66.

Army veteran Captain Tom has appeared in the media around the world as he closed in on his target of walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday to raise money for the UK’s front-line healthcare workers.

What started as a bit of a family joke snowballed into a national phenomenon.

So far, Captain Tom has raised over £30 million for the brave souls of our National Health Service who put their own lives on the line to care for the desperately sick patients battling the terrible virus that’s sweeping around the world.

Many people who would like to adopt Captain Tom. In all his media interviews, he come across as a modest, caring, gentle grandfather straight out of Central Casting.

While we’ve all been desperate for some good news, Captain Tom’s walk around his garden, with the aid of his walking frame, has united the country in a way very few things have in recent years.

Old and young, black and white, left and right…we’ve all taken Captain Tom to our hearts.

Whoever came up with the idea of pairing Captain Tom with Michael Ball and a choir made up of healthcare workers to sing a highly emotional song like “You’ll Never Walk Alone” as he closed in on the 100th lap of his garden was a marketing genius.

And there was no small amount of technical genius in this too as all the performers had to dial in their vocals from their respective homes.

Thankfully, it was done in time for Captain Tom’s 100th birthday and this latest version of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” is pretty decent. I think we all accept that Captain…