My Celine's "My Love"

God bless Tivo, which picked up an episode of "Oprah" from October 2008 with guest Celine Dion, which I somehow missed when it originally aired. The topic was children with disabilities who have been healed through miraculous procedures and shit.

Finally, at the end, Celine sang "My Love" from her albums "Taking Chances"/"My Love-Ultimate Essential Collection." It's the first time I've heard her perform the Linda Perry-penned song live, other than a concert performance, which was serviced as the videoclip when the track was released to radio (where it peaked at a respectable No. 15 at AC).

I'm certainly accustomed to Celine putting her heart in every note she sings, but she actually brought me pause over just how deliberately she delivered every word—as if she was truly living the lyric of the delicate, slowly
building ballad.

On the surface, "My Love" sounds like a romantic song, as she sings, "I would share my life with you/Would you do the same for me?" But when I interviewed Linda Perry for a cover story in Billboard about "Taking Chances," she revealed that the lyric is anything but. She told me (and this has never been published), "This woman doesn’t take any breaks, she’s a
machine, constantly moving. She's on a schedule. 'My Love' is about her relationships with fans, herself, her record label, and how she will do anything it takes to win you over: If I give you everything, will you do the same for me? It sounds like a love song but it's really not. It's definitely based on her and there's a darkness in it. When I played it for her, she starting crying. I had to stop and let her have a moment. She got it."

Knowing that, I was still wholly taken aback when Celine cried in the final notes of her "Oprah" performance. She teared up, put her fist toward her face and truly looked shaken. I'd have wondered if there was tragedy in the wings of Celine's life, had I not had the advantage of watching it some eight months later. Thoroughly stirring.

The clip is on YouTube... see it here...


And here, cool cats, is another unpublished tidbit from my interview with Linda Perry:

"I appreciated Celine from the moment she walked in. Here's this huge persona, and she comes in like she was a secretary, an everyday normal, humble person, She introduces herself with no ego. I loved that. She's a wonderful woman. I admire and respect her, and it makes me happy to know that she was willing to open herself up through this song."