The first song he ever sent me ❤️

Tim's Playlist #13 --- Suzanne Vega

Hey, new subscribers! I’m thrilled you’ve joined the community here at Susan Speaks. 🎉

Some background: Occasionally, I write Tim’s Playlist, music shared with me by my partner and great love. So, here’s my pitch: Tim never would get a colonoscopy and he passed away at age 59 from Stage 4 colon cancer.

So if I leave you with nothing else, PLEASE, PLEASE get a colonoscopy!

There were years of online communication between us. He responded to my blog back in the day when blogs were a thing. We talked about our careers, video production, advertising, hobbies. He was a video editor and offered to mix new demos for my voiceover auditions.

But it started to turn into a little bit more. And I finally agreed to meet Tim for the first time in New York City.

“Meet me at Grand Central, he said. I’ll be on the platform when your train gets in.” I was in Connecticut at the time and my brother helped me get on the right train because I was so nervous, I thought I might faint. 😂

At my age, I never thought I could feel so giddy. But I swear that first kiss on the train platform was right out of a romance novel. The rest of our short time together is glorious history.

It was after our New York meeting that my email started to see music. Tim’s Playlist. He was such a romantic and his taste was so varied… from Steve Tai and Gary Moore to Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton.

‘Gypsy’ by Suzanne Vega was the first song he sent to me.

It was the beginning of the support our long distance relationship needed, and apropos after our very first meeting.

You come from far away
With pictures in your eyes
Of coffeeshops and morning streets
In the blue and silent sunrise
But night is the cathedral
Where we recognized the sign
We strangers know each other now
As part of the whole design

Oh, hold me like a baby
That will not fall asleep
Curl me up inside you
And let me hear you through the heat

You're the jester of this courtyard
With a smile like a girl's
Distracted by the women
With the dimples and the curls
By the pretty and the mischievous
By the timid and the blessed
By the blowing skirts of ladies
Who promise to gather you to their breast

Oh, hold me like a baby
That will not fall asleep
Curl me up inside you
And let me hear you through the heat

You have hands of raining water
And that earring in your ear
The wisdom on your face denies the number of your years
With the fingers of the potter
And the laughing tale of the fool

The arranger of disorder
With your strange and simple rules
Yeah, now I've met me another spinner
Of strange and gauzy threads
With a long and slender body
And a bump upon the head

Oh, hold me like a baby
That will not fall asleep
Curl me up inside you
And let me hear you through the heat

With a long and slender body
And the sweetest softest hands
And we'll blow away forever soon
And go on to different lands
And please do not ever look for me
But with me you will stay
And you will hear yourself in song
Blowing by one day

But, now, hold me like a baby
That will not fall asleep
Curl me up inside you
And let me hear you through the heat

Poetry… tinged with sad, wistful feelings. Suzanne wrote this gorgeous music when she was 18 years old. That was 1977. She’s 65 years old now, and continues to tour and perform… and in 2020, released a new album 'An Evening of New York Songs & Stories. Her voice is still perfect.

But chances are, you know this song better. Luka was one of her biggest hits:

And Tom’s Diner. Also wonderful.

Wonderful. So was Tim.

A wonderful man who shared music freely and let it do the talking.

We strangers know each other now
As part of the whole design.

Gotta love song you want to share? I’d love to hear it.

Thanks for being here. I’m so grateful.