Crucial Track for 25 May 2025

"Stardust" by Willie Nelson

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What song reminds you of your first heartbreak?

My first heartbreak was my parents splitting up. I hadn't even known that was a thing that could happen until it did, and it changed my entire life.

This is not me feeling sorry for myself. Lots of parents break up, and my parents filled the newly-empty spaces in my life with all the love for me they had, which was a lot. And I grew up to have the beautiful life I now have.

In 1978, Willie Nelson recorded an album of covers of his favorite songs, and that album was often on the stereo when I was but a cygnet. His cover of "Stardust" is the one I associate with the safety of my first home, the edges of my existence not yet having expanded past the town boundary.