We’re not crying, you’re crying. Okay… we’re all crying.
On Wednesday, Louis Tomlinson unveiled the music video for his song “Two of Us,” which he dropped as a single in March, and in doing so delivered one of the most touching displays in recent pop-music memory. In the video, the former One Direction singer-songwriter returns to his home county of Yorkshire in northern England and makes a house call to Richard Green, an 83-year-old veteran of the Royal Air Force, taxi driver, actor, and most pertinent to our story, fellow singer. Having heard of Green’s impressive bucket list, Tomlinson decides to personally see to it that a chunk of the items get ticked off.
Watching the shaggy-haired, tattooed 27-year-old musician interact with his sweet, sweater-clad, much older new friend, you might wonder what these two could possibly have in common aside from their shared Yorkshire origins. For both of them, the time around December 2016 marked a significant and tragic turning point in their lives: Green lost his wife, Pat, to Alzheimer’s disease, and Tomlinson lost his mother, Johannah Deakin, to leukemia at age 43.
The video shows the Tomlinson and Green bonding over shared struggle, a love of music, and the adventure of a lifetime, which the pair managed to cram into two short days. With Tomlinson by his side, Green gets to fly a helicopter, race a car, get a tattoo, and ride a roller coaster. Green’s roller coaster reaction is priceless, as he sits stunned with an open mouth before screaming, “yabba dabba doo!” When asked if he enjoyed the ride, he looks bewildered and says simply, “I don’t know.”
As the two daredevils wrap up their adventure, Tomlinson caps their time together by brining Green on stage in front of a packed arena, where he sings his heart out with impressive expertise.
The closing moment of the video highlights the hashtag #LouisandRichard, followed by a list of donation webpages for the Alzheimer’s Society, Cancer Research UK, and Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, urging fans to give from their hearts, as Tomlinson did through this project.
Watch the “Two of Us” video above, and be warned: You’re going to need your tissues for this one.
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