I Wanna Dance with Somebody

I heard the notice of Whitney Houston’s passing on my car radio Saturday evening.  I surprised myself by reacting to the news with tears.  Why would I cry over someone I never met?  She wasn’t even my favorite artist.  .  .  . Maybe it was because so many of her songs mark key moments in my life growing up.  Maybe it was because her passing is just one more affirmation that life is precious and fleeting.  Maybe it was because it gave me the urge to call everyone I love and tell them so.   Maybe it was because she was not too much older than I.

One of Whitney’s songs holds particular signficance in my family; I feel the need to post it here in honor of one of America’s most beautiful voices.

“I Wanna Dance With Somebody” is the song my brother and I danced to modeling for prom fashion at Woodfield Mall years ago.  I served on the Woodfield Fashion Panel during my freshman and sophomore years of college, we were in need of male models,  and my boyfriend/future fiancé was too short ( ) so I recruited my bro!  Check out the photos below complete with my puffy hair and even puffier sleeves.  Since that show, Whitney’s ”I Wanna Dance with Somebody” has held signficance for us.   Because that song is rarely played on the air these days, if one of us happens to hear it, we call or text the other just to say, “Hey, guess what I just heard?”  Whitney’s songs signify special memories for many, I am sure; she touched so many lives through her beautiful voice.

I wonder if musicians can truly fathom just how much their music influences countless lives.  If they honestly knew and understood, I wonder if we’d have much less unhappy souls out there.    Here’s my favorite Whitney song that makes me feel giddy every time I hear it.  Now it has even more meaning:

 

 

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