No, I'm not being malicious nor mocking by penning that title. Once Whitney Houston arrives in Heaven and has taken some time to heal herself spiritually after every single rotten trial-n-tribulation she experienced during her earthly life, I want her to stand up in Heaven and sing. I want her to sing like she's never sang before. I want her to belt out every song she ever recorded over the last 30 years and I want her to utilize her strong, rich, velvety voice with every iota of brighteness within her spirit and knock every single chorus of angels off their friggin asses, because I know if anyone can do that, it's definitely Miss Whitney Houston. And when she's done, I want her to look God straight in the eyes and say directly to Him/Her "You may have perfected my soul but you certainly havent refined it. That's something I did on my own. This is who I am. Thank you very much!" Afterwards, I want Whitney Houston to continue to sing for forever and a day because in my heart and soul, that's how she'll always live on within me, doing what she did best.
I'm still in a state of deep shock over the death of Whitney Houston and as I shared with friends online last night and earlier today, I dont know when I'll ever get through that because Whitney Houston was - and still is - someone whom I have a great deal of profound respect and personal reverence for. Sure, I could go on and on about the positive impacts that woman had in my life over the last 30 years but no matter how much I would write, no matter how many adjectives I could use to describe what she really meant to me, I still dont think I could ever adequately cover all those accolades by mere written word. But, I'll try to give it a good old-fashioned summarized college try.
No matter what I have gone through in the last 30+ years of my life, Whitney Houston's voice and her songs carried me through. Whether I was happy, sad or simply pondering life, her music continously reached out to me and sent shockwaves into the heart of my soul because no female singer could meet or exceed the range of her vocal talents, nor the emotions and untamed vibrance that she put into every single song she recorded. She made alotta #1 hits over the years and I loved every single one of them (yes, every single one); but, I also enjoyed her less-than popular songs too. Why? Because it was her who was singing them.
Since last night, several people have asked me "Well, which song is your ultimate favorite?" When it comes to Whitney Houston, that is an extremely impossible question for me to answer because I have more than one ultimate favorite song of hers that I totally adore. However, be that as it may, if I were to make a list of my favorites, they would be the following, not in any particular order: "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," "One Moment In Time," "I Will Always Love You." "Run To You," and "I Believe In You and Me." Oh, and then there is "So Emotional," "I'm Every Woman" and see what I mean? The damn list goes on and on and on.
If I were to wittle it down though, could I come up with an ultimate favorite? Well, okay, I'll give it a try but the specific version of this particular song, especially locating it, might give music historians a run for their money. Less than 2 months after "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" (1987) hit the charts, Arista released what was called back in the 1980's a "Cassette Single" or "Cassette Maxi-Single" with 4 different versions of the song on it. The true, full-length version of that song IS my ultimate favorite Whitney Houston song. Lemme tell you, I can still remember how many times I drove my partner Jack crazy with how often I listened to that song! It drove that man to beyond distraction but I loved every single second of it because that was always my favorite song by Whitney.
Now, there's alotta folks out there who will refer to that version of the song and say it's on her Greatest Hits 2-cd set but uh-uh, those folks are wrong. The true version of "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" does not have all those breaks and pumped-up bass splits like the Greatest Hits version does. That one Cassette Maxi-Single that Arista released in the summer of 1987, THAT'S the true original version of that song. I still have it too, but it's in storage, totally worn out, barely playable but you guessed it - I'm not parting with it. That song meant the world to me when it first hit the airwaves and it never stopped meaning something to me. Nor has Miss Whitney Houston. Nor will she ever.
Whenever someone we care about dies, whether they are someone we personally know or are related to, or if it's someone prolific and famous like Whitney Houston, we instantaneously and automatically start looking for the prime scapegoat, that particular somneone who influenced the individual in very personally destructive ways, which in turn eventually resulted in their untimely death. Anyone who knows anything about Whitney Houston's life knows exactly who I'm talking about and yes, I'd love to go into a vehement written tirade against that individual, with every might of my strength; but, I'm not going to, at least not yet, because right now I feel the best thing that any of us who loved and admired Whitney can do is send only good thoughts and heartfelt prayers to her directly, as well as to all the family members and loved ones she left behind during this awful, tragic time of sorrow.
At the time of this writing, officials still do not know what caused the death of Whitney Houston but whatever was indeed the actual cause, and regardless of what any of us thinks was the cause, one of the most healthiest things I think any of us can do right now is look back on and celebrate the life of Whitney Houston as well as the music she personally brought into all our lives. And I dont care what anyones spirutual beliefs about death and dying are, I still say that sending her all the prayers of love and good thoughts in her direction is probaly the best thing we can give back to her for all she gave to us. Thank you for reading and remember Whitney, we will always love you.
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