I’m also partial to a pub singalong.

I enjoy watching friends perform, revealing their talents, exposing their vulnerabilities. I like the link to the traditions of the past, the nostalgia for the songs of our youth, the giddy spirit of community.

And so, when I had a birthday celebration recently, I invited a number of my mates to sing one number each. Richly talented Mike volunteered to act as Music Director, agreeing song selections and arrangements, rehearsing the acts, playing keyboard backing.

On the evening itself, as the guests gathered in a Clerkenwell pub, Niece Rosie approached me. A smart, funny Young Person with bags of charisma, she was originally unable to attend the gig.

‘I’m so glad you’ve made it, Rosie. Brilliant.’
‘Yes, and I’m up for singing a song!’

She beamed a big, open smile at me. But I had to disappoint her.

‘I’m afraid that’s not going to happen. Mike agreed the tunes with the singers weeks ago. He’s rehearsed with them and established the right pitch for their voices. It’s all been impeccably pre-produced.’
‘I’m sure I could just give it a go.’
‘No, I’m sorry. It just won’t work.’

Niece Rosie regarded me with a benign grin.

‘Which one’s Mike?’ she said. And with that she was gone.

A little later I was informed that Niece Rosie would be performing Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man.’

There’s a lesson here for anyone who works in the persuasion business. When you hit a blockage, a bump in the road, don’t waste your time repeating yourself, bashing your head against a brick wall. Seek a roundabout route, a sympathetic ally. Search for the person who can influence the decision. Find the real decision maker. And never take no for an answer.

Bessie Coleman, born into a family of Texan sharecroppers in 1892, grew up picking cotton and washing laundry. Her early interest in aviation was snubbed, because flying schools at the time admitted neither women nor Black people. So she taught herself French at night, and saved the money to learn to fly in Paris. She became the first African American woman to hold a pilot’s license. On her return to the United States ‘Brave Bessie’ had a successful career as a stunt flier at air shows, celebrated for her ‘loop the loops’ and ‘figure 8s’. She explained her persistence thus:

‘I refused to take no for an answer. Every no takes me closer to a yes.’

Niece Rosie stood before the crowd, reading the lyrics from her phone, delivering her song with crystalline clarity, mellow tunefulness and soulful warmth. The audience swayed in time with the music, joined in with the chorus and roared approval as she took her ‘timeless flight.’

‘It's lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight.
And I think it's gonna be a long, long time
'Til touchdown brings me round again to find,
I'm not the man they think I am at home.
Oh, no, no, no,
I'm a rocket man,
Rocket man,
Burning out his fuse up here alone.’
Elton John, ‘Rocket Man’ (E John / B Taupin)

No. 481