Mr. Holland's Beautiful Boy

Did you see Mr. Holland's Opus? We watched a clip from it last night in class.

 

Mr. Holland has a deaf teenage son, and they have a tense exchange on the day after John Lennon was killed. Mr. Holland tells Cole he wouldn't understand, and Cole angrily replies to his father that he DOES know who Lennon was, and the Beatles, and that his dad's an asshole for thinking him incapable of understanding.

 

Mr. Holland realizes that his son can appreciate music, so he arranges for a performance at Cole's school. He's got his little orchestra (which consists of kids; I haven't seen the whole thing, but I'm guessing he teaches middle school or something), and they do a couple numbers. A big, multi-colored light on stage flashes along to the sounds, and the crowd loves it.

 

Then Mr. Holland sings (in a flawed but touchingly vulnerable voice) John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" for his son, signing the words to him.

 

And I'm glad it was dark in the classroom, because the tears just ran down my face.

 

***

 

THEBOY likes the Beatles, and listens to the White Album in his room.

 

So I went home and made him a new Beatles CD. He'd not heard much of Revolver or Rubber Soul (glaring omissions, and surely a sign of my ineptitude as a parent), so I put songs from those, mostly, on a CD.

 

I also sprinkled in some solo Lennon stuff, and kicked off the CD with "Beautiful Boy."

 

I hope he likes it.