So I'm sitting here on a Friday night listening to Anne Murray. Not my usual Friday night pursuit.

This is one area in which I am decidedly against type. Here I am, a healthy, middle-aged, silver-haired (!) Canadian dyke and yet I cannot claim to have "always been an Anne Murray fan". This is not to say that Anne has not been on my radar. I think one of my first purchases with my allowance was the 45* of "Cotton Jenny" – the words to which, I discover tonight, I still remember. I also remember the harmony part which I can now sing along with Olivia Neutron Bomb Newton John on Anne's new Duets CD.

So there – I admit it. I bought Anne Murray's new Duets CD. And … I'm listening to it. More than once.

I have other Anne Murray memories. I remember buying an Anne Murray album in high school, the one that had "You Needed Me" on it. The song was a huge mega-hit … but it quickly became a song that I hated.

I cried a tear, you wiped it dry
I was confused, you cleared my mind
I sold my soul, you bought it back for me
And held me up, and gave me dignity
Somehow you needed me

… what kind of rescue fantasy, co-dependent crap is that? Even at 16, I knew my gag reflex from my elbow.

So why am I listening to this album? More than once …?

Well, first of all, Anne has a very listenable voice, like a rich Riesling you want to roll around on your tongue for a few minutes before swallowing. Like that first moment you put on your favourite sweater in December and you snuggle in. The production values on this CD are particularly high, meaning, for me, simplicity. Not a lot of over effects, although why Shania (or Shania's handlers) thought she needed that Cher diddly thing on her voice in the aforementioned cut of "You Needed Me", I'll never know. Although everyone is doing it now, even the Dixie Chicks on their last album.

There are some outstanding cuts on this album … the song "Somebody's Always Saying Goodbye" (sung with Jann Arden) is a knock-out. Sadly, Amy Grant's voice just isn't up to snuff on "Could I Have This Dance", a song with a particularly personal meaning for me that I won't get into, this being a family blog 'n' all. The Indigo Girls appear on "A Little Good News" … an appearance rich in all kinds of irony for some of us. I can think of some "good news" some of us would like to hear from Anne someday. Come on, hun, if Jodie can do it … just take a deep breath … the water is fine.

But I digress … back to the album … This is the kind of album that taught me how to play guitar. Simple chord progressions that let me construct little leads, little riffs between lines and verses. I've had a bit of fun with that tonight.

One wonders if it was really necessary to put Celine Dion on this album or, indeed, on any album. Ever. Someone get that girl a sandwich. Although I like Nelly Furtado doing her own stuff, the combo with Anne is *not* something I'd recommend repeating or pursuing in any way.

Nonetheless, perhaps you sense I'm not really getting to the meat of it.

OK.

In the early part of 2004, I met a woman. Can I say we dated? No, not exactly. We did connect, quickly and, er, fervently. (It is still a family blog, so I am going to leave it there.) On a rather spur-of-the-moment decision, I wound up traipsing to the UK and then Spain to tag along on a trip she had been planning for some time. It was a fabulous adventure. It was also painful … but now, in memory, the pain has become a powerful teacher.

This woman was (actually, no doubt, IS) the biggest damn "hot-for-Anne-Murray" Anne Murray fan I've ever ever met. Fervent, evangelical and would brook no critical discussion or debate on the various merits of this or that song. And, as a result, it is well nigh impossible for me to hear AM's voice without seeing this woman's happy face before me. In my mind's eye anyway … we had parted ways by the end of September that year.

This is a chapter in my life filled with "what ifs …"  Might have been … could have been … but was not. I'll always have Anne (and, I hope, a decent Riesling) to bring me back to this episode … mostly fondly. Thanks a bunch, Anne. 🙂

Here are the lyrics to a song I'd not heard before this album, the one Anne sings with Jann Arden … not only relevant to this little story … but simply well worth a listen if you have an opportunity.

Somebody's Always Saying Goodbye

But that's the way love is, it seems
Just when you've got a real good thing
Somebody's always sayin goodbye
Somebody's always sayin goodbye

*A 45 is like an mp3, only heavier, easier to break, and harder to play while walking down the street.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend