Follow The Sun

Gene Pitney
1941-2006

Funny How I had never even heard of you until around the mid 80's after seeing Cyndi Lauper live during her She's So Unusual tour and she mentioned on stage that she was heavily influenced by your voice. My father was sitting next to me at the time and he leaned over and bubbled enthusiastically over his own love for Pitney at the mention of his name, and the next day he drove me out to a tiny local record store that I had never heard of but was a secret hot-spot for audiophiles in the area (Frankie's Got It, R.I.P.) and bought me one of your greatest hits LPs. Dad couldn't stop singing "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance " happily all the way home at day.

If anything, you remind me of those long ago days as a child when record shopping with my father was a regular Saturday afternoon standing order, and how much he helped to encourage my passions at such an early age (which he probably somewhat regrets to this day). Just hearing "Town Without Pity" in my head right now swings me right back to the memory of being a teenage girl sitting on my bedroom floor tracing my finger around the outline of your freaky-weird perfectly lacquered haircut.

At least you passed with some apparent peace after an exhilarating live performance.

May you be more than half in Heaven...