"I think it's possibly the greatest song ever written. Ever!"
Kasabian‘s Tom Meighan has shared the song that holds the most precious memory of his childhood as part of a new campaign that aims to highlight the plight of children suffering silently in orphanages around the world.
The ‘End The Silence’ campaign’ has been organised by UK charity Hope and Homes for Children and sees the Kasabian frontman joining the likes of Ed Sheeran, Elton John and Paul Weller in sharing his musical memories of childhood.
Describing his love of Ben E.King’s ‘Stand By Me’, Meighan said: ” The track takes me back to when the film ‘Stand By Me’ came out when I was five years old. It’s just that happy memory of the song in the movie of them four boys growing up. It takes me right back to my childhood, back to that living room – the smell and the feel.
“I think it’s possibly the greatest song ever written. Ever! In my house it was always played, my mum was always singing. She’d sing to me when I was a baby, it’s just something that has been put into me. It was a very musical house with Motown and a lot of soul music. That’s what I grew up on. It was just a very loving house. It’s got a very warm feeling.”
He also discussed how his love of music has been passed down to his five-year-old daughter Mimi.
“As a dad, music is huge. She’s always telling me to put music on”, he explained.
“She’s always telling me to put our music on. ‘Daddy play ‘You’re in Love with a psycho!’ She knows it word for word”.
“For any kid to grow up without love or without being heard is awful”, he said of End The Silence.
“What it does in the end if affect the child as they grow up. If you’re unloved then you’ll have a chip on your shoulder. If no one’s heard what you’ve got to say, I can’t imagine it, it would be awful.”
Meanwhile, Kasabian are halfway through a huge UK arena tour and last week urged fans to remain vigilant after a spate of large scale phone thefts at recent gigs.
You can find out more about End The Silence here.
The post Kasabian’s Tom Meighan joins anti-orphanage ‘End The Silence’ campaign and reveals favourite childhood song appeared first on NME.