The songs and voice of Celine Dion have yet to be on my countdowns, and I think that’s because almost every song she sung in the nineties, when she held reign as the Voice, reminds me of that one person, the one who is most difficult to think about but who never goes very away from my thoughts. But with that said, I must talk about Celine and so many of her songs from her self-titled album from 1992, the year I was in the thick of it all with he who shall remain nameless. We both knew we weren’t made to last, but “if he’d asked me to…” Coming out was still so new to me, as was having the love and approval of my mother and sister (because, honestly, theirs was the only approval I’d craved), so I was in high gear while he was still taking baby steps, still very guarded. We didn’t have the luxury of timing, sadly, and that was what ultimately defeated us. If You Asked Me To told my story at the start; Water From The Moon told of my ache to get him on the same page. Last but not at all least, I Love You, Goodbye was played in tandem with Whitney’s I Will Always Love You once I knew that it really was over. All three songs were written for Celine by prolific ballad writer Diane Warren, so maybe it’s she to whom I owe my 1992-93 life and love and loss story. But to listen to this velvet-voiced chanteuse sing these songs, even now, reminds me of a simpler time which I complicated by being impatient, impetuous me.
From the historical writing archive. Original date: November 29, 2019. Recovered from local source material; editorial review is still in progress.
