George Winston 1950-2023
June 7, 2023 5:45 AM Subscribe
Noted "New Age" pianist George Winston passed away this week after fighting cancer for many years. Winston came to prominence in the 1980s as one of the artists recording for the "New Age" Windham Hill label along with performers such as Liz Story, Will Ackerman, and Shadowfax. His albums "Autumn" and "December" were his most popular, and he won Grammys in 1996 and 2004.
George Winston suffered from Myelodysplastic Syndrome for the last 10 years, but had other cancer diagnoses prior as well. He continued to perform throughtout his long illness. His death was announced earlier this week.
George Winston suffered from Myelodysplastic Syndrome for the last 10 years, but had other cancer diagnoses prior as well. He continued to perform throughtout his long illness. His death was announced earlier this week.
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I spent hours, as a child, attempting to parrot his "December" on my parents' piano.
posted by gauche at 5:57 AM on June 7, 2023 [7 favorites]
I spent hours, as a child, attempting to parrot his "December" on my parents' piano.
posted by gauche at 5:57 AM on June 7, 2023 [7 favorites]
His style was so distinct and his pieces so wonderful. I hope someday his compositions break out of his recordings and become performed for the great pieces they are.
I think the piece of his that stays with me the most is Rain.
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posted by hippybear at 6:20 AM on June 7, 2023 [4 favorites]
I think the piece of his that stays with me the most is Rain.
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posted by hippybear at 6:20 AM on June 7, 2023 [4 favorites]
Well, crap.
A few of these were among the first CDs we ever had in the house when I was a kid and every note in (for instance) Winter into Spring is gently impressed into my brain. I recently bought a few of these on vinyl, on a whim of nostalgia, and was kind of surprised by how much I still enjoy them, how much I end up putting them on, and how much of a throughline there is to other things I listen to. Here's to you, George.
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posted by dirtdirt at 6:50 AM on June 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
A few of these were among the first CDs we ever had in the house when I was a kid and every note in (for instance) Winter into Spring is gently impressed into my brain. I recently bought a few of these on vinyl, on a whim of nostalgia, and was kind of surprised by how much I still enjoy them, how much I end up putting them on, and how much of a throughline there is to other things I listen to. Here's to you, George.
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posted by dirtdirt at 6:50 AM on June 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
oh, ow, my childhood!
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posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 6:53 AM on June 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
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posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 6:53 AM on June 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
Winter Into Spring is forever with me as the soundtrack (on cassette, natch) to my first acid trip, injudiciously experienced on a 10-hour high school bus trip, in 1987 or 1988, to a math and science tournament. I did not get busted despite the suspicions of my fellow students and the chemistry teacher. I credit the mellow piano vibes and my tiny round sunglasses.
posted by bgribble at 7:15 AM on June 7, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by bgribble at 7:15 AM on June 7, 2023 [7 favorites]
I don't remember which album it was (it probably was his performances of Vince Guaraldi's Peanuts songs), but one of the first amazing moments as a kid was hearing one of his performances on a decent stereo and feeling like I was standing right there next to the piano.
George was an incredible talent, and whoever audio engineered his work let his performance feel like it was being played personally for me.
posted by tclark at 7:15 AM on June 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
George was an incredible talent, and whoever audio engineered his work let his performance feel like it was being played personally for me.
posted by tclark at 7:15 AM on June 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by Spike Glee at 7:18 AM on June 7, 2023
posted by Spike Glee at 7:18 AM on June 7, 2023
George Winston founded Dancing Cat Records. "His goal was to record both the musicians who have influenced his music and musicians whose music he felt needed to be preserved for future generations."
He was a profound, profound influence on the resurgance of Hawaiian slack key guitar.
posted by blob at 7:26 AM on June 7, 2023 [7 favorites]
He was a profound, profound influence on the resurgance of Hawaiian slack key guitar.
posted by blob at 7:26 AM on June 7, 2023 [7 favorites]
whoever audio engineered his work
That's the glory of Windham Hill, really. Howard Johnston engineered all the Winston albums, and Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab did the mastering. They were really an audiophile label back when that mattered on vinyl.
posted by hippybear at 7:26 AM on June 7, 2023 [4 favorites]
That's the glory of Windham Hill, really. Howard Johnston engineered all the Winston albums, and Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab did the mastering. They were really an audiophile label back when that mattered on vinyl.
posted by hippybear at 7:26 AM on June 7, 2023 [4 favorites]
George Winston was a long-time supporter of food banks. His merchandise sales have gone to local food banks since the 1980s. Here’s an article on a 2013 food bank benefit performance that mentions that and also that he released a single of “Silent Night” to benefit Feeding America food bank.
Back around 1990, I volunteered to sell merchandise at a George Winston concert at Minneapolis’s Symphony Hall with a friend who worked for a network of food banks. After the concert and sales were done, George’s manager gave me a cassette tape of Professor Longhair’s Rock ‘n Roll Gumbo, which had been re-released on George’s label Dancing Cat Records, then distributed by Windham Hill. George also contributed liner notes. This started me on my love of New Orleans piano music. George also did excellent liner notes discussing the different rhythmic piano styles used by James Booker for the 1993 CD re-release of Booker’s Junco Partner.
The memorial statement on George Winston’s website asks for donations to Feeding America, as well as City Of Hope Cancer Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
posted by larrybob at 7:31 AM on June 7, 2023 [5 favorites]
Back around 1990, I volunteered to sell merchandise at a George Winston concert at Minneapolis’s Symphony Hall with a friend who worked for a network of food banks. After the concert and sales were done, George’s manager gave me a cassette tape of Professor Longhair’s Rock ‘n Roll Gumbo, which had been re-released on George’s label Dancing Cat Records, then distributed by Windham Hill. George also contributed liner notes. This started me on my love of New Orleans piano music. George also did excellent liner notes discussing the different rhythmic piano styles used by James Booker for the 1993 CD re-release of Booker’s Junco Partner.
The memorial statement on George Winston’s website asks for donations to Feeding America, as well as City Of Hope Cancer Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
posted by larrybob at 7:31 AM on June 7, 2023 [5 favorites]
His take on Graceful Ghost from the "Forest" LP (which also has some music from 'The Snowman').
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posted by Rash at 7:36 AM on June 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
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posted by Rash at 7:36 AM on June 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
his performances of Vince Guaraldi's Peanuts songs
wait, what?!
[mind ... blown]
posted by chavenet at 7:56 AM on June 7, 2023
wait, what?!
[mind ... blown]
posted by chavenet at 7:56 AM on June 7, 2023
Oh, man. Part of the soundtrack of my teens, and I still listen to Winter into Spring several times a year, especially The Venice Dreamer.
When I was an undergraduate, in the fall of '88, he and U2 were both in town with concerts on the same day. It was not an easy decision, but I went with Winston, and despite the raves of friends who witnessed prime Bono, I never regretted the choice. One of the top three concerts I've ever witnessed.
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posted by Quasirandom at 7:58 AM on June 7, 2023 [6 favorites]
When I was an undergraduate, in the fall of '88, he and U2 were both in town with concerts on the same day. It was not an easy decision, but I went with Winston, and despite the raves of friends who witnessed prime Bono, I never regretted the choice. One of the top three concerts I've ever witnessed.
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posted by Quasirandom at 7:58 AM on June 7, 2023 [6 favorites]
I really like 'Ocean Waves (O Mar),' also from Winter into Spring (the whole album's great though)
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posted by box at 8:01 AM on June 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by box at 8:01 AM on June 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by cool breeze at 8:09 AM on June 7, 2023
posted by cool breeze at 8:09 AM on June 7, 2023
I feel like Summer is consistently underrated among his four seasonal albums. Seeing him in concert was a truly amazing experience, he treats the piano like nobody else I've ever seen. Autumn and December especially still pull all the feels from those hard late 80s youth group years.
posted by rikschell at 8:30 AM on June 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by rikschell at 8:30 AM on June 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
it's my seven year old's last day of first grade today. we listenened to george winston's summer last night and pretty much every night since he was born. winston's music has given us a (relatively) calm and relaxing bedtime routine through the years -- it seems timeless to me now.
thanks for your light and gentle playing and presence. you only live once, but may your music repeat forever.
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posted by kliuless at 8:42 AM on June 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
thanks for your light and gentle playing and presence. you only live once, but may your music repeat forever.
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posted by kliuless at 8:42 AM on June 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
Some time in the 90s, we lived in Apple Valley MN and about a mile south of us was a big box (short-lived) media store. They had lots of in-store appearances by authors and musicians. On a February night, with a blizzard raging, George Winston was scheduled to appear. We decided to risk it but it was a mother of a storm. But not enough to deter a sturdy Montanan like George.
That night, to a raptured audience of maybe a dozen people and a few store employees, George did several Hawaiian slack-key songs on guitar. It was wonderful, just sitting inside with the winds shaking the building and this quiet man playing tropical music on acoustic guitar. Now, I'm a RAWK guy but this was a perfect evening.
RIP George, your December album has been a mainstay at our house during the holidays since its release. And as noted above, Winter into Spring is a classic as well.
posted by Ber at 9:03 AM on June 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
That night, to a raptured audience of maybe a dozen people and a few store employees, George did several Hawaiian slack-key songs on guitar. It was wonderful, just sitting inside with the winds shaking the building and this quiet man playing tropical music on acoustic guitar. Now, I'm a RAWK guy but this was a perfect evening.
RIP George, your December album has been a mainstay at our house during the holidays since its release. And as noted above, Winter into Spring is a classic as well.
posted by Ber at 9:03 AM on June 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
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posted by whatevernot at 9:04 AM on June 7, 2023
posted by whatevernot at 9:04 AM on June 7, 2023
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George Winston's music was the reason I begged for piano lessons. My parents had a cassette tape of December and I was obsessed with his adaptation of "Carol of the Bells ." My uncle gave me the Forest album for my 9th birthday and I listened to it constantly, especially "Three Pieces from The Snowman." As soon as I had enough skill I started picking out "Walking in the Air" on piano by listening to the song on my Walkman, pausing it, finding matching notes on the piano, rewinding it, and repeating that until I had most of the song. At the time, George had never published any sheet music despite strong demand - he wouldn't until 2007 and was instead known for distributing pages of his music into the audience after concerts. So I had his album plus the original sheet music from the film, and my teacher asked me why I was playing it that way (the bass line is different in the original Blake version vs. Winston's); I explained I was doing it how George played it.
I also saw him in concert, probably around 2008 - 2009? He played without shoes, just socks - he liked to keep a beat with his leg and the tapping would otherwise be too loud. I always enjoy how he treats the whole piano as an instrument, reaching in and plucking or holding strings directly if that's the sound he needs, like in the last minute of "Tamarack Pines."
George doesn't always get the respect he deserves - some of his songs are deceptively simple and I think he gets lumped in with what I call "gift shop music," you hear it in stores that smell like candles and sell windchimes. But he was truly a master musician.
I'll leave you with one of my favorites of his pieces, Cloudy This Morning.
posted by castlebravo at 9:16 AM on June 7, 2023 [5 favorites]
George Winston's music was the reason I begged for piano lessons. My parents had a cassette tape of December and I was obsessed with his adaptation of "Carol of the Bells ." My uncle gave me the Forest album for my 9th birthday and I listened to it constantly, especially "Three Pieces from The Snowman." As soon as I had enough skill I started picking out "Walking in the Air" on piano by listening to the song on my Walkman, pausing it, finding matching notes on the piano, rewinding it, and repeating that until I had most of the song. At the time, George had never published any sheet music despite strong demand - he wouldn't until 2007 and was instead known for distributing pages of his music into the audience after concerts. So I had his album plus the original sheet music from the film, and my teacher asked me why I was playing it that way (the bass line is different in the original Blake version vs. Winston's); I explained I was doing it how George played it.
I also saw him in concert, probably around 2008 - 2009? He played without shoes, just socks - he liked to keep a beat with his leg and the tapping would otherwise be too loud. I always enjoy how he treats the whole piano as an instrument, reaching in and plucking or holding strings directly if that's the sound he needs, like in the last minute of "Tamarack Pines."
George doesn't always get the respect he deserves - some of his songs are deceptively simple and I think he gets lumped in with what I call "gift shop music," you hear it in stores that smell like candles and sell windchimes. But he was truly a master musician.
I'll leave you with one of my favorites of his pieces, Cloudy This Morning.
posted by castlebravo at 9:16 AM on June 7, 2023 [5 favorites]
I love "December" more than almost any other album in my collection. I am so fearful of getting worn out on it that I pretty much only allow myself to listen to it in December. As the holidays approach, I fire it up and let it wash over me. Pure bliss. Thank you so much, George.
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posted by /\/\/\/ at 9:53 AM on June 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by /\/\/\/ at 9:53 AM on June 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
I grew up listening to December in my parents home every holiday season. I've continued to listen to it in my own home as an adult.
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posted by Fleebnork at 10:24 AM on June 7, 2023
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posted by Fleebnork at 10:24 AM on June 7, 2023
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posted by JoeXIII007 at 10:30 AM on June 7, 2023
posted by JoeXIII007 at 10:30 AM on June 7, 2023
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posted by gentlyepigrams at 10:48 AM on June 7, 2023
posted by gentlyepigrams at 10:48 AM on June 7, 2023
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posted by kitten kaboodle at 11:03 AM on June 7, 2023
posted by kitten kaboodle at 11:03 AM on June 7, 2023
I love "December" more than almost any other album in my collection. I am so fearful of getting worn out on it that I pretty much only allow myself to listen to it in December.
I do this too. My family always listened to it around Christmastime so it has a powerful nostalgic effect on me.
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posted by neckro23 at 12:10 PM on June 7, 2023
I do this too. My family always listened to it around Christmastime so it has a powerful nostalgic effect on me.
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posted by neckro23 at 12:10 PM on June 7, 2023
I have bittersweet memories of his music. After I was into punk and before metal I dated a woman I was crazy about. She loved New Age music and played Winston frequently. I associated him with those episodes of bliss.
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posted by doctornemo at 12:37 PM on June 7, 2023
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posted by doctornemo at 12:37 PM on June 7, 2023
George went to college with my parents at Stetson University in Florida, and he played at their wedding.
My mom says he was brilliant but incredibly introverted. She once visited him at his apartment and he just sat at the piano playing song and after song, without ever speaking to her.
I met him years later when he came to my high school in Miami to do a show for the students (he had attended the same school). I remember him playing wearing socks without shoes.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 2:22 PM on June 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
My mom says he was brilliant but incredibly introverted. She once visited him at his apartment and he just sat at the piano playing song and after song, without ever speaking to her.
I met him years later when he came to my high school in Miami to do a show for the students (he had attended the same school). I remember him playing wearing socks without shoes.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 2:22 PM on June 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
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posted by UhOhChongo! at 2:35 PM on June 7, 2023
posted by UhOhChongo! at 2:35 PM on June 7, 2023
Winston was definitely part of the vast 1980’s soundtrack.
Indeed. I was seriously into Windham Hill artists for a while back then. Scott Cossu (another WH artist) played a gig in a small restaurant in my town. It was in a strip mall and happened to have large windows in the front, which served to display the following set of events to both the band and the entire audience:
During the concert some extremely drunk guy tried to come into the restaurant but was rebuffed; he proceeded to strip down to his skivvies and lie down on a bench directly in front of the restaurant. This was in the winter, by the way, and although we lived in north Florida it was quite cold, probably in the 40's. After a while the cops came, wrapped him in a blanket, and carried him off somewhere. Despite this distraction the concert went on.
A year or so later Cossu came back through town and played at the same restaurant again. Either before of after the show (I can't remember) I went up to him and explained that we tried to get the drunk guy back but he was booked elsewhere. Cossu was thrilled that he had an independent witness for that event and said delightedly "You were here??" Then he called out to his bandmates, "Guys, guys, remember that drunk guy I told you about? I told you I wasn't making it up!!"
My brush with New Age artists... Oh, the concert was great too, both times.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:59 PM on June 7, 2023 [3 favorites]
Indeed. I was seriously into Windham Hill artists for a while back then. Scott Cossu (another WH artist) played a gig in a small restaurant in my town. It was in a strip mall and happened to have large windows in the front, which served to display the following set of events to both the band and the entire audience:
During the concert some extremely drunk guy tried to come into the restaurant but was rebuffed; he proceeded to strip down to his skivvies and lie down on a bench directly in front of the restaurant. This was in the winter, by the way, and although we lived in north Florida it was quite cold, probably in the 40's. After a while the cops came, wrapped him in a blanket, and carried him off somewhere. Despite this distraction the concert went on.
A year or so later Cossu came back through town and played at the same restaurant again. Either before of after the show (I can't remember) I went up to him and explained that we tried to get the drunk guy back but he was booked elsewhere. Cossu was thrilled that he had an independent witness for that event and said delightedly "You were here??" Then he called out to his bandmates, "Guys, guys, remember that drunk guy I told you about? I told you I wasn't making it up!!"
My brush with New Age artists... Oh, the concert was great too, both times.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:59 PM on June 7, 2023 [3 favorites]
My parents started me with piano lessons when I was a kid. I liked it, but also had a difficult time understanding the relationship between "regular practice" and "progress." So I had a hard time motivating myself to practice every day as one should. So it seemed to me that I wasn't really becoming able to play things the way I wanted/expected to. At the time I blamed it mostly on the traditional classical (Bach, Mozart) repertoire the teacher was using. I mean, I did like classical music, but I was at an age where I was starting to get into the rising British New Wave of the early/mid 80s, and also had become really interested in the electronic worlds of Vangelis and Wendy Carlos.
So I had my parents stop the lessons, because I didn't think they were leading to where I wanted to go.
Then I had a teacher in 6th grade who I expressed some of this to. She was an older woman, who in her early days had played in a traveling jazz band. She taught me some rudiments of how to read chord symbols in "fake books" - the kind of thing her old band might've used to work their way through a song request for something they hadn't rehearsed. That began to open up to me the world of playing along to pop music on a little Yamaha electric keyboard for me.
And then at a visit to a cousin's family, they played me George Winston's take on the Pachelbel Canon. Suddenly I heard piano in a way I never had, but in a way I'd always wanted to even though I never knew that. I was amazed.
Winston's music kept me playing piano for years, even though only just for myself. During the turmoil I went through in college, being able to go into a piano practice room in my arts-focused dorm and spend an hour improvising and building on my own Winston-esque compositions kept me sane. I've fallen far out of practice these many years later, but it does still live on my bucket list that someday I will complete my own Winston-style album of original music. (I literally have enough material, I'm just so very out of practice, it would take a while to get my playing skill back, and then I'd have to learn audio recording from zero...)
A few months ago I got an email of upcoming shows at a charmingly tiny venue nearby, mentioning that George Winston would be playing live in May. And I JUMPED to buy a ticket - having somehow, in all these years, never seen him live, and now to be able to see him in a venue the size of a McMansion living room? OMG! I was so excited. Weeks later I was notified the concert was canceled due to his health concerns, but "would be rescheduled."
Anyway.. yeah, George Winston and his music changed (and probably saved) my life. It's - weird? - that this news should break exactly at the time when my life is undergoing a pretty major upheaval and restructuring, which has included me having thoughts like "gee isn't it time I started practicing at the keyboard again?"
(I can still, with some warm up and practice, still do a pretty decent version of Winston's take on the Pachelbel Canon, minus that crazy tremolo/vibrato thing he does near the end that I still don't understand how it's possible.)
posted by dnash at 6:11 PM on June 7, 2023 [4 favorites]
So I had my parents stop the lessons, because I didn't think they were leading to where I wanted to go.
Then I had a teacher in 6th grade who I expressed some of this to. She was an older woman, who in her early days had played in a traveling jazz band. She taught me some rudiments of how to read chord symbols in "fake books" - the kind of thing her old band might've used to work their way through a song request for something they hadn't rehearsed. That began to open up to me the world of playing along to pop music on a little Yamaha electric keyboard for me.
And then at a visit to a cousin's family, they played me George Winston's take on the Pachelbel Canon. Suddenly I heard piano in a way I never had, but in a way I'd always wanted to even though I never knew that. I was amazed.
Winston's music kept me playing piano for years, even though only just for myself. During the turmoil I went through in college, being able to go into a piano practice room in my arts-focused dorm and spend an hour improvising and building on my own Winston-esque compositions kept me sane. I've fallen far out of practice these many years later, but it does still live on my bucket list that someday I will complete my own Winston-style album of original music. (I literally have enough material, I'm just so very out of practice, it would take a while to get my playing skill back, and then I'd have to learn audio recording from zero...)
A few months ago I got an email of upcoming shows at a charmingly tiny venue nearby, mentioning that George Winston would be playing live in May. And I JUMPED to buy a ticket - having somehow, in all these years, never seen him live, and now to be able to see him in a venue the size of a McMansion living room? OMG! I was so excited. Weeks later I was notified the concert was canceled due to his health concerns, but "would be rescheduled."
Anyway.. yeah, George Winston and his music changed (and probably saved) my life. It's - weird? - that this news should break exactly at the time when my life is undergoing a pretty major upheaval and restructuring, which has included me having thoughts like "gee isn't it time I started practicing at the keyboard again?"
(I can still, with some warm up and practice, still do a pretty decent version of Winston's take on the Pachelbel Canon, minus that crazy tremolo/vibrato thing he does near the end that I still don't understand how it's possible.)
posted by dnash at 6:11 PM on June 7, 2023 [4 favorites]
George Winston founded Dancing Cat Records. "His goal was to record both the musicians who have influenced his music and musicians whose music he felt needed to be preserved for future generations."Apropos of which, I highly recommend Dancing Cat's "Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters" collections, especially volume 1 from (wow!) 1995. If you want to know what kind of work his preservation efforts were preserving that's an excellent starting point.
He was a profound, profound influence on the resurgance of Hawaiian slack key guitar.
posted by Nerd of the North at 6:42 PM on June 7, 2023 [3 favorites]
When I saw George Winston, the schwag I got from the concert was a book of bread recipes with a flexidisk record that you could pull out and listen to while you kneaded the bread.
posted by hippybear at 8:15 PM on June 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 8:15 PM on June 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
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George is instrumental to the development of my family. When I was younger, my then girlfriend got two tickets to a George Winston show. She raved about December — she’d checked it out from the local library as a kid and it stuck with her. So we went and he played the piano (his stuff and some Vince Guaraldi, of course), then he played some slack-key guitar, and also played harmonica. He put on a helluva show.
After the show, I bought a copy of "Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters" and when I heard Keoka Beamer’s E Ku’u Morning Dew, I told my girlfriend that would be the song I would have played at my wedding. She smiled and agreed it would be a good wedding song.
We broke up when she went to college in Idaho on exchange. 2000 miles was just too far and we were young so we weren’t going to save ourselves for each other until she came back. It was a fine romance and we had some lovely memories together.
18 months later she was back from her year out west and I realized if I was going to compare every girl to her, shouldn’t I just get back with her? So, we did and not long after, I asked her to marry me. Not long after, she said that when she thought of us while she was in Idaho, the thought of me meeting someone else and them walking down the aisle to that song made her a little sad.
24 years later, and we’re still together. Thanks, George. You helped me share my life with the finest person I know.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 8:24 PM on June 7, 2023 [8 favorites]
George is instrumental to the development of my family. When I was younger, my then girlfriend got two tickets to a George Winston show. She raved about December — she’d checked it out from the local library as a kid and it stuck with her. So we went and he played the piano (his stuff and some Vince Guaraldi, of course), then he played some slack-key guitar, and also played harmonica. He put on a helluva show.
After the show, I bought a copy of "Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters" and when I heard Keoka Beamer’s E Ku’u Morning Dew, I told my girlfriend that would be the song I would have played at my wedding. She smiled and agreed it would be a good wedding song.
We broke up when she went to college in Idaho on exchange. 2000 miles was just too far and we were young so we weren’t going to save ourselves for each other until she came back. It was a fine romance and we had some lovely memories together.
18 months later she was back from her year out west and I realized if I was going to compare every girl to her, shouldn’t I just get back with her? So, we did and not long after, I asked her to marry me. Not long after, she said that when she thought of us while she was in Idaho, the thought of me meeting someone else and them walking down the aisle to that song made her a little sad.
24 years later, and we’re still together. Thanks, George. You helped me share my life with the finest person I know.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 8:24 PM on June 7, 2023 [8 favorites]
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posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 8:55 PM on June 7, 2023
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 8:55 PM on June 7, 2023
"December" and "Winter Into Spring" are great recordings. His style was his own. Simple yet elegant. RIP
posted by DJZouke at 5:13 AM on June 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by DJZouke at 5:13 AM on June 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
Teenage me wearing a purple dragon sweatshirt, working in a New Age bookshop with "December" piped over the speakers is a peak 80s memory for me.
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posted by ikahime at 9:34 AM on June 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
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posted by ikahime at 9:34 AM on June 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
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posted by Thorzdad at 5:54 AM on June 7, 2023 [3 favorites]