Simple Simon Says: Sing-a-long-a-Graded ExerciseTherapy?

Hope this might bring a smile to your day.


It popped into my head as I wrote the previous blog post and thought about the untold damage a certain Simple Simon is doing to all the M.E. community with his media shenanigans.


This little song was all the rage when I was a kid and got to number #4 in the UK charts back in 1968.


Perhaps the original inspiration for the Wessely School version of GET for M.E.?

LYRICS: I'd like to play a game that is so much fun
And it's not so very hard to do
The name of the game is Simple Simon says
And I would like for you to play it too

Put your hands in the air
(Simple Simon says)
Shake them all about
(Simple Simon says)
Do it when Simon says
(Simple Simon says)
And you will never be out

Simple Simon says put your hands on your head
Let your back bone slip Simon says
Put your hands on your head
(Simple Simon says)
Bring them down by your side
(Simple Simon says)
Shake them to your left
(Simple Simon Says)
Now shake them to your right

Put your hands on your head
(Simple Simon says)
Bring them down by your side
(Simple Simon says)
Shake them to your left
(Simple Simon says)
Now shake them to your right

Now that you have learnt
To play this game with me
You can see it's not so hard to do
Let's try it once again
This time more carefully
And I hope the winner will be you

Clap your hands in the air
(Simple Simon says)
Do it double time
(Simple Simon says)
Slow it down like before
(Simple Simon says)
Ah, your looking fine
(Simple Simon says)
Now clap them high in the air
(Simple Simon says)
Do it double time
(Simple Simon says)
Slow it down like before
(Simple Simon says)
Ah, your looking fine

Don't try this at home!
Doing it in double time may, in fact, damage your health!
Hope this may help to keep you smiling through your bad days!
You're not alone!

"Everybody's Changing": Keane sing my M.E. song

Everybody's Changing...

I just wanted to share a song that, in so many ways, sums up my M.E. experience. (Video link to YouTube is at bottom of this post)

It is British band Keane's first hit, that was played everywhere on the radio at the time my very worst M.E. crash of all time seemed to be robbing me of my health, my job, some of my associates (true friends remain, thank the Lord!), my prospects, my ability to get out there and connect and be who I am, my identity, my strength, my hope. This song sang my story!


I had deep faith that Jesus would never abandon me, and can use every circumstance, but being an honest-to-goodness human lass, I had moments when I mourned the active, busy me my illness was stripping away. People all around me had lives moving on, when in my mid forties I was suddenly faced with early retirement, limited strength, mobility and pains that no pill could reach.

People who had only known me recently, or just saw me shuffling along on a "good" day with stick, unable to be up and about for more than an hour or two at a time without untold consequences, didn't really know me at all, I realised with increasing horror. Living in the moment suddenly didn't seem such a tempting option!

When this song came on the radio, a beautiful, emotional song, I would often find myself weeping as it put all I felt into its lyrics:

"...you're aching, you're breaking,
And I can see the pain in your eyes"


and

"...so little time,

try to underestand that I'm

trying to make a move  just to stay in the game,

I try to stay awake and remember my name,

But everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same." (c) Keane


Trying to stay awake and remembering your name is something that will strike a chord with so many of us who live with M.E.


Listening to it now, I'm thankful how songs like this, for eclectic music lovers like me and so many others, become like friends that help to express the deepest joys and agonies in our lives.

For me, I feel God uses everything to minister to us, as he reaches out his hand to us through the darkness.

I hope it blesses you too, today. You're not alone!

Keane: "Everybody's Changing" (from their album "Hopes and Fears") (c) Keane 2003