As with JFK, John Lennon and a few others, I can never forget where I was or how I felt when I got the news about Harry’s death. Eventually, I learned the details…that he had died in a collision with a tractor trailer on a Long Island freeway. Other details came from fellow fans whom I knew.
Maybe I didn’t get it right, but my understanding was, that he was driving with a suspended or revoked driver’s license, that he was a terrible driver who should never have been on that freeway, but he was in a hurry to get to a concert which was to raise funds for his world hunger charity.
It seems like such an awful tragedy to me; he knew he shouldn’t have been there, and it cost him his life and who knows how much wonderful music and memories for us, his fans, and for the world at large. It became hard for me to listen to his music without getting angry. How could he do this to us? Of course I still listened, and continue to do so. How can I not? What other songwriter can touch me no matter how many times I hear his songs?
It’s pointless to wonder what might have been, but we do have a wonderful collection of Harry’s songs available to us, and we are fortunate he wrote so many treasures in the short time that he had. God bless your memory, Harry. I forgive you!