My mother died on October 14th, 1997, two days after the singer John Denver (although we all thought he died on the 13th because 5.28pm in Monterey was 1.28 am the next day in Ireland). When I heard of Denver’s death I was distracted with concern for my friend who was a huge fan all his life and introduced me to the country singers serious back catalogue (I would later name my dog ‘Denver‘ in remembrance of the late singer). It was while I was caught up in worry for my friend that my mother finally passed away after a long illness. The weird juxtaposition between both of these deaths would have led me to latch onto a song that was rolling around in my head over those few days and I suppose it would have made sense to select that…