DULUTH, Minn. – When you and your sweetheart share a special song, whenever you hear it-even decades later-you are transported back to a time when you were falling in love.
In honor of Valentine’s Day, we invited people to share their special song. We heard about everything from old standards such as “Always” and “Some Enchanted Evening” to songs sung by Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder and Kenny Chesney.
Here’s a sampling of what people wrote:
‘Eve of Destruction’
The song that was playing on the radio the first time Tom kissed me was “Eve of Destruction” by Barry McGuire. It became a joke to say it was “our song.” We are still happily married after 37 years, so I guess it wasn’t the “Eve of Destruction” for us.
Barry McGuire sang at our church last year, so we brought our 45 rpm record in its white sleeve cover and had Barry autograph it for us!
– Lottie Haller, 57, of Gnesen Township, Minn.
‘You Had Me From Hello’
On Sept. 6, 2003, I was working at the Superior Speedway. The boss let me go early, so I went to watch the races. There was nowhere to sit on the benches, so I sat on the cold metal steps.
Rick said he had room on his blanket so I didn’t have to sit on the steps. We introduced ourselves. His name is Rick and so is my son’s. People call me Dani and that’s his son’s name. We thought that was funny. He asked if he could call me sometime for dinner and drinks.
The next day he called and asked me out but I had to work. When my boss called and canceled, I called Rick, who was heading to the laundromat. I told him to come get me. He was shocked I wanted our first date to be at the laundromat. Our first kiss was there.
The fireworks flew. I came home and told my daughter I was gonna marry that man someday.
As I was getting ready for bed, I turned on the radio and “You Had Me from Hello” by Kenny Chesney was playing. I thought of Rick instantly. A few days later I had radio station B105 play “You Had Me From Hello” while he listened on his way to work. He cried.
We always joke the song should be called “You Had Me From Come Sit on My Blanket.”
When we marred eight months later, “You Had Me From Hello” was the first song we danced to as husband and wife.
– Danette Krosko, 36, of Superior, Wis.
‘Wonderful Tonight’
Todd and I had been dating for not quite nine months when he brought me to his family reunion, which ended with dinner and a dance.
The DJ played “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton. This was the first time Todd and I had danced together and it was a magical moment that changed me. I knew I would spend the rest of my life with him. Among so many people, at that moment to me we were the only two people on the planet. I felt the lyrics to the song as if Todd were saying them just for me.
Now, 10 years later, seven years married and two beautiful boys ages 6 and 3, hearing that song still is magical and sends chills up my spine.
– Jennifer Hinnenkamp, 32, of Duluth, Minn.
‘Forever and Ever, Amen’
Tom and I met in November 1985 when I was a single mother attending college. From the moment I laid eyes on him I was in love. Believe it or not, a short four months later we were married. (He was so shy that he never asked me to marry him-his mother did!!)
He has always been a country music buff and when he first heard “Forever and Ever, Amen” by Randy Travis he made sure that I listened to all the words and he told me that it reminded him of me. Even now when the song comes on the radio he calls my cell phone and leaves me a message of the song playing in the background.
Our 19th wedding anniversary is March 7. He said that for our 20th he will actually ask me to marry him and we are going to go to Vegas and get married there.
– Laurie Gillette, of Cloquet, Minn.
‘My Prayer’
“My Prayer,” sung by the Ink Spots, was a popular song during World War II. My sweetheart, Delima, and I listened to this song in the early 1940s when it was played frequently over the radio.
The lyrics went: “My prayer is to linger with you at the end of each day. … My prayer and the answer you give may they still be the same for as long as we live, that you’ll always be there at the end of my prayer.” The words of the song touched us as we fell in love and married in 1941.
The song became more meaningful when the United States entered World War II. My wife and I were separated as I served overseas in the Army Air Corps. When our plane was shot down, I was captured upon a parachute landing. I was taken to a German airfield and to a hospital to be treated for burns.
I was semiconscious during that first night. At one point when I awoke, I noticed a German guard sitting in a chair listening to the radio. I was stunned to hear the song “My Prayer” playing over the radio. Much later I found it was common for the German radio to play American music. We still love hearing this song 64 years later.
– John Mahoney, 87, of Duluth, Minn.
“PEG O’ MY HEART”
The year was 1945. Don Robertson and I were in seventh grade at Washington Junior High School. I was seated at my desk in Room 102 when in walked this wonderful, tall, blond-haired, green-eyed fellow. I knew the minute I saw him I would marry him. We looked at one another. He gave me one of those charming smiles.
I came home and told my mom and dad I’m going to marry this hunk. My dad said, “puppy love.” Well, April 8, 1950, the day before Easter, we were married. Puppy love had turned into reality after many wonderful dates.
We still love one another as much as when we first met and maybe more. Our song was “Peg o’ My Heart.”
-Joyce Robertson, 73, of Duluth
“UNCHAINED MELODY”
Our favorite song is “Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers. We were married 28 years ago on Feb. 12, and ever since then we have been “kitchen dancing” to this song.
It’s such a moving song and we never grow old of kitchen dancing to it whenever we hear it on the radio. Our daughters have even called in requests on our day to make sure we kitchen dance on our anniversary.
-Reta, 50, and Keith Baxley, 56, of Carlton, Minn.
“CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE”
My husband, Roger, and I have been married for nearly 24 years. When planning our wedding, we heard a song sung by Elvis Presley, “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” We instantly knew that would be our song.
On the day of our wedding, as the groomsmen and my soon-to-be husband entered the church, from high above in the balcony that song was being sung. To this day whatever rendition of that song we hear, we stop whatever we are doing, listen to the words and reflect on our life together.
-Lynn Daoust, 44, of Duluth
“LOVE ME TENDER”
On Dec. 4, 1956, I had my first date. I was 14 and Art was 16. We went to the movie, “Love Me Tender.” We fell in love, dated and got married. To this day, when either one of us hears Elvis Presley singing “Love Me Tender,” we’ll call the other and share it again. We’ve been married for 42+ years.
-Charlene Jacquart, 62, of Duluth
“FOREVER AND EVER, AMEN”
Tom and I met in November 1985 when I was a single mother attending college. From the moment I laid eyes on him I was in love. Believe it or not, a short four months later we were married. (He was so shy that he never asked me to marry him-his mother did!!)
He has always been a country music buff and when he first heard “Forever and Ever, Amen” by Randy Travis he made sure that I listened to all the words and he told me that it reminded him of me. Even now when the song comes on the radio he calls my cell phone and leaves me a message of the song playing in the background.
Our 19th wedding anniversary is March 7. He said that for our 20th he will actually ask me to marry him and we are going to go to Vegas and get married there.
-Laurie Gillette of Cloquet
“SO HAPPY TOGETHER”
In 1966, while a sophomore at Cloquet High School, I met and fell in love with Danny Nelson, a junior. The first time we heard the song, “So Happy Together” by the Turtles, it became our song.
When I hear this song, it brings back memories of armory and school dances and the radio blasting our favorite song as we drove the loop through town. It always makes me smile.
We dated for six years and have been married 32 years. One line from the song has especially proved to be true: “I can’t see me loving nobody but you for all my life.”
-Nancy Nelson of Cloquet
“TAKE ME TO THE RIVER”
In summer 1987, on our first time rafting down the Arkansas River high in the Rocky Mountains, Stan and I went over a rapids and I bounced out of the raft into cold, awakening water.
Later, while driving home along winding roads back to Boulder, Colo., we played the Talking Heads on the car stereo. “Take Me to the River” (the next line is “drop me in the water”) became our song.
-Lynn Froseth, 54, Duluth
“MY CHERIE AMOUR”
“My Cherie Amour”-the song by Stevie Wonder-always reminds me of my dear wife, Sharon.
I sang it for her late one evening, after a long day of nervous preparation, sacred vows, good food, greeting guests, taking pictures, a stop off in Canal Park (wedding dress, fine suit and all), then finally to our first night together. The room was quiet, and I just started in. “My cherie amour, lovely as a summer’s day…”
The song always brings us both back to the beginning of what has been 23 wonderful years together-so far.
-James Wiita, 48, of Superior
“MY GIRL”
Steve and I had been going together for some time when I discovered I had breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy in 1989. I was in a hospital room the first day out of intensive care when I heard him coming down the hall just singing with all his heart, “My Girl.” Ever since then it has been our song.
He could have left me but instead he stood by me and we were later married.
Steve, who’s a mailman in Duluth, performs this song for me at least 12 times a year or he’ll have a radio station play it for me.
-Rose Westerlund of South Range
“LOOK AT US”
Vince Gill’s song, “Look at Us,” seems to capture what 53 years of married life is like for us. The lines “still crazy over you and still believing in each other” is what it is all about.
-Madonna Buck, 72, and her husband, Leo, 77, of Duluth
“IF I NEEDED YOU”
My husband, Michael, and I are newlyweds (we married Oct. 9, 2004) and we met because of our mutual love of music. Our courtship began on the Black Oak Arkansas tour bus in 2001 in Hoyt Lakes, during the town’s water carnival.
Ours was a long distance courtship. He lived in Owatonna, Minn., and I lived in Cloquet. We grew very fond of looking forward to the weekends so we could be together.
The distance between us as our affections grew posed some challenges. One weeknight I was feeling sad and lonely and Michael called me from Owatonna to say good night. He sensed my mood and assured me that we would be together in just a few sleeps.
Within a few hours my doorbell rang and there was Michael at my door singing me these words from “If I Needed You”: “If I needed you, would you come to me, would you come to me for to ease my pain.” He said, “Hon, you needed me and I am here for you.”
From that moment on this song, written by Townes Van Zandt and sung by Lyle Lovette has been our song. We even had it sung at our wedding.
-Terry Kirchhoff, 48, of Cloquet
“YOU BELONG TO ME”
Our song, “You Belong to Me” by Jo Stafford, was popular in 1952, the year I met Vern. We met at a place called White Caps near Two Harbors on Aug. 15, 1952. They had dances there and some nights it was the juke box. We’d dance to that song.
When our family had a 50th wedding anniversary party for us in 2003, the band played the song and we, of course, danced to it.
-Vivian Bolen, 73, of Two Harbors, Minn.
“SLOW DANCING”
When Ken and I were dating, the song that was close to our hearts was “Slow Dancing” by Johnny Rivers.
When we were married on Feb. 28, 1981, I really wanted the song played at our wedding dance. I let Ken get the band, which turned out to be one person playing drums and one playing the accordion. Needless to say, they didn’t know the song.
Every time I hear the song on the radio, I look at Ken. He says, “I know, The Song!!” I am thinking by our 25th anniversary we will be in some place warm and romantic. It might cost a little, but he owes me.
– Debbie Klein, 46, of Hermantown, Minn.
“UNCHAINED MELODY”
In 1954-55, I met the boy I really cared about (Gail Baum). We loved the song “Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers. Every time we heard it, we thought of one another. We enjoyed each other’s company but a misunderstanding spilt us up.
Gail joined the Army and a while later I got married to someone else, as he also later did. I thought of him a lot through the years, and every time I heard “Unchained Melody” he was in my thoughts.
Forty-seven years later I was alone and my sister, who knew how I felt about Gail, called him while at my house. Soon it will be three years that we’ve been together again, forever!
Now when we go out on weekends to dances, the bands will play our song or at karaoke a good friend will sing the “Unchained Melody” for us. Then all the memories come back and we’re both back in the “50s again.
What a wonderful feeling to get back what we once had and to feel so good about one song from so long ago.
– Gail Reamer, 67, Duluth
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(c) 2005, Duluth News Tribune (Duluth, Minn.).
Visit the Web site of the News Tribune at http://www.duluthsuperior.com
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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AP-NY-02-11-05 0621EST
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