ONCE IN A WHILE

As the song says, "There's something about an old love." You wonder if remembramnce is reciprocal. You dream of that someone, but he or she is no longer n love with you

I will presuppose that every reader of this essay had at least one once-in-lifetime love that ended in still-recurring sorrow years and years ago—and even now. I had two such loves that both ended badly—one in highschool, the other in college. It is my college sweetheart who still makes guest appearances in my dreams and reveries. In scores, maybe hundreds, of dreams she has taunted as much as haunted me by refusing to make a commitment. Only a few nights ago did she finally say yes to me with the simple sentence,”I’m ready now.”

I awoke, as happy as any dream has ever made me, then savored the morning and the day that followed. Now the days have resumed nerve-wracking normalcy. Don’t hang your hands or hat on dreams. This was simply a sublime timeout from the time during which a woman I knew in my ashram days died and time stopped hiding from me.

Aging is time personalized and it can prove to be a good consort. It is readying me for the days ahead and demanding that I only act my age in physical not metaphysical terms. Age insists our hearts and minds stay forever young. So many I know have been sidelined from that commandment by dementia and Alzheimer’s. I feel like I must live the fullness of life denied them. But who knows? You keep practicing the arts of eternal consciousness and live as the best presence you can be in the present. The present welcomes those who share the truth that now is all there is.

In any case, this medley is for those of you who have a love that haunts, even hounds, you decades after its ending—and still wonder if that beloved still thinks of you as often and with the same feeling.

Tommy Dorsey, Once In a While, 1937

Patti Page, Once In a While, 1952

Earl Burtnett * His Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel Orchestra, Do You Ever eThink of Me, 1929

Bing Crosby & The Merry Macs, Do You Ever Think of Me, 1940

Matt Monro, Do You ever Think of Me, 1962

Ramona Davies, Every Now and Then, 1935

Helen Humes with Marty Paich, Every Now and Then, 1961

OTHER SONGS WITH THE SAME TITLE

Carolyn Daye, every Now and Then, 1965

Chet Atkins, Every Now & Then, 1994 (written by Chet)

Ambrose & His Orchestra (Denny Davis, voc.), There’s Something About an Old Love (Will Hudson), 1938

Johnny Hodges (Mary McHigh, voc.), There’s Something About An Old Love, 1938 Johnny Hodges is super-stellar on this recording; duke is on the record, nut it was issued under Hidges name)Sylvia Syms,

Sylvia Syms, There’s Something About an Old Love, 1956 (Frank Sinatra adored Sylvia and said she was a major influence on him)

Peggy Lee, Just An Old Love of Mine (Peggy Lee- Dave Barbour), 1947

Doris Day, Just an Old Love Of Mine, 1947

Mabel Mercer with Ralph Burns, Once Upon a Time, 1964

Bobby Darin, Once Upon a Time, 1966

Jack Jones, Once Upon a Time, Jack Jones, 1967

Frank Sinatra, I’ll Only Miss Her When I Think of Her (Sammy Cahn-Jimmy Van Heusen, “Skyscraper,” 1965), 1965

Buddy Greco, I’ll Only MIss Her When I Think of Her, 1966

Meredith d”Ambrosio, I’ll Only Jiss Him When I Think of Hi,. 1990

Mabel Mercer, Did You Ever Cross Over to Sneeden’s (written for Mabel byAlec Wilder), (early 1950’s) (This is one of the most beautiful songs I know of and even Alec could never explain why he wrote it. Maybe it’s to honor every rendezvous never kept.)

Janet Planet, Did You Ever Cross Over to Sneeedens, 2016 (some day this exquisite song will enter the standard repertoire and maybe the likes of Taylor and Beyonce will hear it and know the waste of their art)

The Righteous Brothers, Just Once in My Life, 1965 (my favorite Phil Spector production; this song has always meant so much—maybe too much—to me)