A Playlist for Today…and Every Day It’s Needed
Great Merciful Zeus. If you’re someone who doesn’t know what the fuss is about today, please listen to this. I think Whitney Houston was truly the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in person. And that voice. THAT VOICE.
This is the song I’ve always played when I’ve lost something…came so close, but didn’t make it…but it celebrates the try and makes me want to pick myself back up and hit harder tomorrow. Every job I didn’t get, every deal that fell apart, every time I’ve ever almost done anything…this is what plays in my head.
This is the song that was playing the first time I ever talked to my boyfriend Justin. It was in Sidetrack here in Boystown, on 80s Request Night…and this was one of my requests. You could always tell if I was in that bar on those nights because I would stack the deck for Whitney.
My friend Althea has dressed up as this Whitney at Halloween — with the big bow and the bright smile in the slinky little gray dress. She loves the look so much she’ll wear it out on a non-Halloween night too…fits her great, and she channels that classic Whitney vibe in it.
This is the Whitney who won’t be trifled with. And whenever you won’t be trifled with either, you need to blast this.
Another great one for days when I don’t want to get out of bed…it’s just physically impossible for me to hear this and not want to get up and do something rock star awesome with my life that day.
Back when I was in college, at the very first gay bar I ever went to called Marcella’s in Rochester, a few of the queens there used to do this Whitney song, from The Bodyguard. Years and years later, when I met my friend Althea (who chose me over my ex when the two of us broke up and became my friend instead of his), she and I went out at Halloween with her as Whitney from Queen of the Night and me as her “bodyguard” a la Kevin Costner. It was one of my favorite Halloweens ever.
Sublime
And even cooler remixed as a dance track. This was the very first song I ever downloaded off Napster (back in the day), the first video I ever saw on YouTube, and the very first song I ever bought off iTunes.
You probably don’t know this one…but it features George Michael, another 80s favorite of mine who ended up a train wreck. When I was a little kid, maybe in 3rd or 4th grade, a group of my classmates and I dressed up together for Halloween as the stars of the day. I was George Michael, my cousin Val was Cyndi Lauper, my friend Cheryl was Madonna (in Like A Virgin wedding dress), my friend Tanesha was Whitney, and we had our friend Jimmy (who was Chinese, oddly enough) be Michael Jackson (since he had a red Thriller leather jacket).
There’s just something wrong with you if you don’t love this song, at least on some level. It was the theme for my high school prom, even though it was a few years old by that time…it was still that popular. When a favorite teacher at my school died my junior year, the second most beautiful version of this (next to Whitney’s) was sung at her funeral and I just cried and cried for days…but in a way where I felt comforted and sure as anything that the good that this woman did in life would echo forever, that I’d never forget her, and that everything she taught me would live on through anything good I did. When that saxophone breaks it…it just gives me a chance to fill in the images of whatever I’m mourning at the time…and that wish for joy, and for happiness, and for love…it’s just the greatest thing you can ever feel for someone. If you’re parting, if a relationship is ended…leave on this high note…let Whitney sing it for you…and wish only the best, only love, on — and for — others.
Great Merciful Zeus…and a newly coined, Sweet Whitney Houston…I hope in my lifetime I can create something on paper or in spirit that’s as soul-touchingly indelible as this one Dolly Parton cover song performed by Whitney at her clear and determined zenith.
It is going to be so hard for me to pull it together today and not be sorry about the 30 years we were shorted with Whitney on a stage…and to be just profoundly grateful for the immense body of work she left behind…that will always, always, always be part of my life — and I sincerely hope a part of yours, too.
Chime in with your favorites if I missed them. You will forgive me if I am not in the mood for politics today. Regularly scheduled programming will resume tomorrow. But, today is all about celebrating a very special person who meant something meaningful to me, and always will.
© 2012, Kevin DuJan. All rights reserved.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx4v6cO1GMk
she was only a loan.now she is back singing in the Heavenly Choir
we have lost her but Heaven has welcomed her home again.
prayers for the grieving family and friends.
I'd never seen that one with George Michael. That was SO good.
My God, she is so beautiful!
Kevin, thank you for putting this together. Makes me sad. I will come back later when I can fully appreciate it.
With that first song you have managed to do what my husband's doctors couldn't: make me cry. He's been diagnosed with cancer and it made me more aware that I really did think I had it all. I have to tell my children today and can't even see straight right now. This is probably not the place for this comment, but WTH.
She had an unbelievable gift. Prayers to her family and friends.
Oh dear Lord, Caro, I am so very sorry for you and your family! (((hugs))) I will pray that you and your husband find strength and healing.
I gotta tell you, Kevin, I watched every one of those videos, and I am once again blown away but what a stunning talent she was. She didn't just sing the songs, she LIVED the songs.
I feel the deepest grief for her family…
On a different note: Was there ANY hair style that the woman did not look fabulous in? She had absolutely perfect facial features. My God was she blessed.
I feel like digging up my cassettes of Whitney!! Although, I'm not sure I have anything I could play them on….