As soon as I read the letter from Ingrid, I reveled in its narrative potential – Mystery, Supernature, Strange-ness, Quirkiness and of course an icon, the ICON; his voice, his beauty and his ‘otherworldliness’.

Elvis, the King, or in this case, Elvis, the KIND.

The drama and atmosphere of Ingrid’s story unfolded in my mind as clearly as if I were watching a movie.

I explored a few different ways of presenting it so as to capture the imagery, colour, movement, atmosphere, texture, viscerality and temperature that I ‘got’ from it.

I was going to create an abstract Elvis around a tailor’s dummy with angel wings and a steering wheel for a halo but I do not yet have the skills to build that! It might happen, one day!

It has been a joy to dip in and out of the playful messiness of collage; the layering, the writing, the editing, the printing, the cutting and pasting!

I played Elvis songs as I worked and played.

Kentucky Rain played in my head, on a loop!

I took artistic liberties with the lyrics and ingrid’s story in that her experience was set in Scotland but there was no specific place name so I changed Kentucky to Inverallochy.

A friend of mine came to stay with me very recently and saw the picture. She loved the whole idea of the picture and the Museum of Human Kindness project and wanted to contribute with a musical arrangement of Kentucky Rain to go with the musical notes that rain down throughout the picture.

I quickly wrote some lyrics based on Ingrid’s story, emailed them to her and she arranged, sang and recorded it within a day. We hope Ingrid likes it!

(Click here to listen to the song.) 

Verse 1.

Apocalyptic holidays had left us in a haze,

The plane touched down and we were left alone.

The rain was pouring down, deep rivers ran the ground

And there was no juice left in either mobile phone.

Our clothes were wet right through, the rain filled up my shoe,

We looked like luggage left in ‘lost and found’

Shorts and sandals on, we were dressed all wrong,

Darkness was falling all around.

Chorus

‘verallochy rain kept falling down, down, down,

We looked like rats that just might drown, drown, drown.

A random act of kindness was all we required,

Some good will and some generosity.

Verse 2.

We stepped into the road, with our heavy load,

But hadn’t packed a brolly or a mack.

A long, lonely highway was all we could see,

We prayed to God that he might set us free.

God got right back with a pithy pitch, ‘Keep the Faith and Dare to Hitch!’

We reached right out a thumbin’ for a ride.

Our lives about to end, but just around the bend,

A light appeared and we felt warm inside.

Chorus

‘verallochy rain kept falling down, down, down,

We looked like rats that might just drown, drown, drown.

A random act of kindness was all we required,

Some good will and some generosity.

Verse 3.

The light grew bright and brighter still and you could never guess the thrill,

When a car drew up with Elvis at the wheel.

He said ‘Uh Huh, Uh Huh, through the rain I saw ya Huh,

Where ya bound on such a frightful night?’

He said ‘Git inside the car, are you goin’ far?’

We said ‘any place is better’n where we are.’

He laughed with us and said, ‘We’ve all been left for dead,

So let’s get down the road and back to life instead!’

Chorus

‘verallochy rain kept falling down, down, down,

Elvis the king he wore the crown, crown, crown,

A random act of kindness was all we required,

He saved us with his generosity.

Verse 4.

He drove on for 50 miles our faces lit up with wide smiles,

And he said ‘Since my baby left me I could die.

But you’ll see, down this street, you simply cannot beat

a good night’s sleep at Heartbreak Hotel!’

He dropped us off outside, we said, ‘thank you for the ride’,

And he said, ‘Man, it was a pleasure and a treat,

And here’s a roll o’ cash, on food and board to splash’

Then he disappeared for ever from our lives.

Chorus

‘verallochy rain kept falling down, down, down,

Elvis the king he wore the crown, crown, crown,

A random act of kindness was all we required,

He saved us with his generosity

Lyrics, Rebecca Chapman

Musical Arrangement and Vocals, Jo Collins MBE