Just Saying: “Until You come Back to Me” — Tribute to the Queen of Soul

BY RAUL HERNANDEZ

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A TRIBUTE TO THE GREATEST VOICE EVER

When I broke up with my then-girlfriend, Janet Wagner, the song “Until You Come Back to Me” by Ms. Aretha Franklin was playing on the airwaves.

And today, the words from the Queen of Soul came back home and hit hard.

Decades earlier when I was at work, Janet packed up all her stuff from our apartment and left a message taped to the broiler in the kitchen. It stated: “Hey boyfriend, I love you madly. But I have to go. It’s for the best.”

I had lost this wonderful and beautiful young lady who I loved very much.  It was a crazy time then. But shortly after returning from Vietnam, I just wanted to drink, play pool and party with my friends.

But Janet wasn’t into parties or bar hopping with a bunch of rowdy guys. Janet was a quiet, sweet soul who loved books. John Updike was one of her favorite authors. She loved to read my poetry and made cooking with Hamburger Helper into an art form. We would often laugh about that.

When she got upset, she stopped talking, and I knew it was serious when her eyes welled up.

Still, I thought our relationship would never end, but it did one day. We talked about what went wrong. I knew, however, that in the end, I was to blame, most of it was my fault.  And all the begging and pleading wouldn’t restore what I lost and she’d never return to our place, our home, that was full of plants and a fishbowl with a Samurai fish named Blue who we both loved.

Months later, Janet left El Paso and moved back to Chicago. One day, out of nowhere, her girlfriend Penny called and said Janet died in a traffic accident in Ohio.

I must have played Aretha’s song and music all day that day. Aretha’s voice helped soothe the pain that lingered in the hole in my heart for many years after Janet’s death.

When Aretha passed away today, the lyrics, those sweet words, hit home hard, again, and busted me up inside. It seemed like the first time I  heard this song. I felt like I lost a friend whose voice knew every crevice and secret hiding place inside my heart.

Aretha’s life was magical because her voice, deeds, and music touched countless of lives and made the memories of those we loved and lost much sweeter.

The world lost a queen.  Many years earlier, I let a princess slipped through my fingers.

Rest in Peace, Ms. Franklin.

Lyrics to  “Until You Come Back To Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)”