Honolulu Baby
<tck>Last year, at a fundraiser for the children of the Grenfell Tower scandal, I found myself chatting to a man who expressed an interest in having some ukulele tuition. We exchanged phone numbers and a week later, he called and asked if we could learn this song. I put a chord chart together, ready for our lesson.
When I went over to his apartment, he turned to me and said "You know I'm blind, don't you?" I'd figured that he must have been visually impaired, but no, I hadn't realised he was completely blind.
He then told me the story of why he wanted to learn this song. The day he'd first met the Italian woman who became his wife (before he lost his sight), she was so tanned and lovely, it had made him think of this song and so he'd sung it to her back then; and that's why he wanted to learn it now, to play it for her once more.
I guided his fingers onto the strings to show him how to form each of the chords. I then counted the beats for the chord changes "Am 1234 12, E7 34, Am 1234...," ), and we went through each section of the song like that. After 2 1/2 hours, he could play the whole song unaided.
I've achieved a lot of things in my life, but I don't think I've ever done anything that made me feel as proud.</tck>