Scottish songbird just what we need

With a song in her heart the dowdy little woman from Scotland walked onto the stage and conquered the world.

By now you’ve heard of Susan Boyle.

On Google and on television the 47-year-old unemployed charity worker bowled us over with the voice of an angel, and moreover, brought jubilation into a rather downcast period of humankind.

It says enough that Susan is known now as “The Woman Who Shut Up Simon Cowell.” The plucky spinster has done a lot more.

She has given us reason to cheer in a time of global economic gloom and doom, uncertainty and grim predictions.

She reminded us never to judge people by how they look or what they wear. Inside a tattered suit may be a poet or a physicist.

Inside a less-than-glamorous body may be a Susan Boyle.

And most important, the Susan Boyle story is about letting go, being confident in oneself, walking onto that stage and knocking ’em dead.

There’s good in all of us and in a few like Susan, pure genius and beauty.

On the TV show “Britain’s Got Talent,” Ms. Boyle was introduced, to great skepticism. There were smirks among the panel. In the audience, eyes rolled and heads shook.

How could this person in her frumpish forties do anything worth our while? Whom would she like to sing like, asked the usually arrogant and snotty Cowell.

“Elaine Paige,” said Ms. Boyle. That such an amateur would mention herself in the same sentence with the gorgeous British songbird brought out the snickers.

OK, let’s see what you’ve got, dearie...

One line into “I Dreamed A Dream” from “Les Miserables” and the panel sat bolt upright. Jaws dropped. Eyes bugged out. The audience stood and cheered.

The lilting soprano soared.

“I dreamed a dream in time gone by, When hope was high, And life worth living, I dreamed that love would never die. . . “

Computer geeks who do such things instantly had Susan Boyle’s appearance copied and flashed around the world. Millions upon millions watched and heard in disbelief.

There are now reports in London that Elaine Paige is eager to perform a duet with the sensational 47-year-old diva.

Susan came from a small village in an industrial section of Scotland. Her father worked in an automobile factory. She is the youngest of four brothers and six sisters. Her mother was 47 when Susan was born and, Wikipedia, quoting The Sunday Times of London, says her birth was difficult and that she was deprived briefly of oxygen, causing mild brain damage.

Susan worked in a kitchen and went to the theater to hear the top singers. The Guardian says she attended Edinburgh Acting School.

Her big moment on “Britain’s Got Talent” brought Susan “yes” votes from Amanda Holden and Cowell, and “the biggest yes I have ever given anybody” from Piers Morgan.

Not to mention “Yessssss!!!” votes from astonished viewers around the world.

The Boyle phenomenon is more than Gomer Pyle, the bumbling, good-natured country boy who sang in operatic tones on long ago television. It’s more than Frank Fontaine playing the part of a bum who sets down his mug of beer on The Jackie Gleason Show and warbles some wonderful pop tune.

And it’s more than the Looney Tunes animated character Michigan J. Frog (he sang “The Michigan Rag” among other numbers), who performs for the hapless guy who discovers him but refuses to sing in front of an audience.

Susan Boyle is not a gag in some comedy. She’s the real deal.

In another difficult time, a less than glamorous singer named Kate Smith lifted hearts and spirits everywhere. These troubled times have brought us a new gift in the voice, the spirit and spunk of Susan Boyle.

You go, girl!

Corky Simpson is a former Tucson Citizen columnist who writes a weekly column for the Green Valley News.