For most of my life I have privately loved the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler. I started to love it when it came out in 1983, when I was 14. For some reason, in the months before turning 50, I started to think about singing this song that I've loved for over 30 years, and making other people listen to me sing it.
So I did. I asked my friends to record the song with me. We met in the East Calais community center in the back of the post office. I knew they didn't like the song and they didn't really want to do it, so I felt really bad for asking them to do it, which, in a way, seemed like part of the phoenix moment I was looking for.
And now that I’m 55, I’m going to make you all listen to it, plus some conversations about getting older.
In this story you heard from Clare Dolan, Scott Carrier, Bianca Giaever and my son, Henry Heilman. The musicians were Brian Clark, Mike Donofrio and Tobin Anderson.
Rumble Strip is a podcast produced by Erica Heilman and distributed on the radio by Vermont Public. Learn more about the show here.
