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When I was younger the days were like candy
now I’m older and the days are like wine
I used to sing songs of the young happy freedom
I knew as a child, no feeling for time
After losing part of his leg in a motorcycle accident in the early 1960, Richard Atkins took to playing guitar and writing songs, quickly landing a coveted deal for his debut album Richard Twice (1968) with Mercury Records. But what appeared to be a fast track to folk-rock stardom came to a sudden halt when a make-or-break performance brought his dreams crashing down. Traumatised, he stopped listening to the radio and playing on stage for 40 years, deciding instead to dedicate his life to woodworking. Using expressive, psychedelic animations and featuring Atkins’s original music, the US director Matthew Salton’s film is a bittersweet reminder that many dreams go unfulfilled, and while past failures are always with us, they needn’t define us.
Director: Matthew Salton
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Music
The peculiar beauty of a song caught between composition and improvisation
3 minutes
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Rituals and celebrations
A beginner’s guide to a joyful Persian tradition of spring renewal and rebirth
3 minutes
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Love and friendship
Love looks a bit different for a chain-smoking couple in a small apartment
11 minutes
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Biography and memoir
Passed over as the first Black astronaut, Ed Dwight carved out an impressive second act
13 minutes
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Engineering
A close-up look at electronic paper reveals its exquisite patterns – and limitations
9 minutes
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Architecture
West Africa was once an architectural laboratory. Is it time for a revival?
12 minutes
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Work
A Swedish expat in the Philippines wonders: what’s up with people sleeping at work?
14 minutes
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Biography and memoir
The unique life philosophy of Abdi, born in Somalia, living in the Netherlands
29 minutes
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Cognition and intelligence
What’s this buzz about bees having culture? Inside a groundbreaking experiment
8 minutes