A touching celebration of love and individuality. Kirkus Reviews, regarding the children’s book version of the song “Everything Possible”
“Everything Possible,” written in 1983 by Fred Small, became famous when an all-male acapella group, The Flirtations, recorded and started to perform it in the late 1980’s. It became their signature song and one of my all-time favorites.
According to Small’s website, he considers it a lullaby. He wrote it right after a friend, a lesbian mom, told him about her young son struggling with peer pressure “to conform to masculine stereotypes.”
The lyrics:
You can be anybody you want to be,You can love whomever you willYou can travel any country where your heart leadsAnd know I will love you stillYou can live by yourself, you can gather friends around,You can choose one special oneAnd the only measure of your words and your deedsWill be the love you leave behind when you’re done.
One of the many times The Flirts, as we called them back in the day, sang “Everything Possible”:
This audio-only version is clearer:
Last year Everything Possible was published as a children’s picture book with illustrations by Alison Brown. Small made a couple lyric changes intended to be more sensitive to contemporary knowledge about gender issues. Following the lyrics Some women love women, some men love men is now Some leave every label behind. And instead of There are girls who grow up strong and bold / There are boys quiet and kind, it’s Some children grow up strong and bold, while some are quiet and kind.
The book is suitable for all kinds of families. Kirkus Reviews: “The illustrations depict three children—one with tan skin and black hair, one with brown hair and brown skin, and one with tan skin and blond hair—who play together and interact with a diverse community that includes queer families. Though the lyrics sound good read aloud, they’re even better sung, and a QR code allows readers to hear the song performed by Small.”
