Forgiving Gene Pitney

Because of his song, a wonderful marriage might never have happened . . .

Diane stiffened when she heard the unmistakable intro of the next song. It was kind of her granddaughter to make sure 1960s songs were playing softly in the dining-room on their anniversary. She couldn’t have known how much Diane hated this particular one. Gene Pitney opened his mouth and began his letter to his dearest darling. “can you fast forward past this one?” Diane asked.

Her daughter, Sheila, put more vegetables on her plate. “isn’t it time you forgave Gene Pitney, Mum?” she suggested.

Jodie put her knife and fork down and looked interested. “do I know this story? What did she do to you?”

“It’s not a woman, Jodie,” Sheila said. “It’s the guy singing now. Mum always says she and your grandad nearly didn’t get together because of this song.”

“It’s about a man driving home to Tulsa, and he falls for someone else in a hotel,” Diane explained.

“Right,” Jodie said uncertainly. Then she suddenly seemed to remember something. “you worked in a hotel, didn’t you, Gran?” She turned to her grandfather.

“Grandad, did you drive up and fall for Gran?” Diane and her husband had been together for so long now that no-one really talked about how they’d met any more. It was more than 50 years ago, and Diane was surprised that all this time later it still felt like a fragile moment.

Suppose she’d listened to the song and not trusted her real feelings? A different life seemed impossible. “Something like that,” her husband said. “Go on, Gran,” Jodie urged. “you can’t leave it at that.”

“Your grandad had been to a conference and was driving home. I was one of the assistant managers in the hotel –”

“So Grandad bowled up,” Jodie said impatiently. “then what? Love at first sight?”

Diane shook her head. “it took about an hour, over dinner that night.”

Jodie sighed and picked up her fork again. “in the song, the travelling man is writing to his love at home, telling her he can’t go back there,” Diane explained.

“That’s not what happened to you, though, is it, Mum?” Sheila said.

“I always felt sorriest for the sweetheart back home in Tulsa,” Diane said. “and a bit sorry for the guy.”

“So you had a girl at home, Grandad?” Jodie laughed and looked across the table. “did you break someone’s heart?”

It was obviously difficult for her to imagine her grandparents as anything other than the comfortable ageing couple she’d always known. Her grandad shook his head. “Oh, no. I don’t come out of this very well.”

He seemed uncharacteristically unwilling to talk. “yes, you do, Dad,” Sheila said.“you ended up with Mum.”

“Did you two stay together after that first meeting?” Jodie asked. “was there another woman?”

“He had a wedding ring on,” Diane said. “i didn’t want to be the cause of a break-up, so I let him think I wasn’t interested. Which was a pity, because I really liked him.”

“Tangled webs, eh?” Sheila said.

“He kept talking about how we could see one another again, and I kept trying to stop him.”

“We lived at opposite ends of the country, Di,” her husband put in. “i could tell you liked me, and I was falling for you. I was asking how we would manage the distance, and you thought I was wondering how I could get away from my wife.” “You were already married, Grandad?” “Look at it from my point of view,” he began. “i was young, and it was the early Sixties. My first work conference had been a nightmare of women throwing themselves at me, and I didn’t want that to happen again.”

“That’s what I first loved about your grandad,” Diane said with a smile. “his modesty.”

“So you did have a wife at home?” Jodie persisted.

“No. I bought a wedding ring in Woolworths and wore it at the conference for a peaceful life.”

“That’s the most shocking thing about this whole story. That they used to sell wedding rings in Woolworths!” Sheila exclaimed, amid the laugher.

“It kept me out of trouble at the meetings, but the problem was I forgot to take it off.” He stood up to help Sheila take the empty plates away.

“I always used to wonder why the songwriters talked about heartache,” Diane said. “but the ache was real when I saw your grandad off the next morning.

“We’d had dinner together after I went off duty, then sat over coffee in the hotel lounge till midnight.”

“How could you have talked for so long and not realised you were both pretending?” Diane wondered how the young were so perceptive sometimes.

“That song was playing everywhere at the time, and I had it constantly in my head,” she said.

“I was determined not to be the other woman.”

“Tell me Grandad tore his cheap ring off and raced back to you before your heart ached too much.”

Jodie was obviously a romantic. Diane laughed. “he didn’t realise he still had it on till he was halfway home.”

She caught her husband’s eye. He was looking sheepish.

“It took him a few weeks to pluck up the courage to come back.”

“And then I had to work hard to persuade you there wasn’t someone else at home,” he said. He took Diane’s hand. “But it was worth it all.”

“Forget dessert for a minute.” Jodie went over to the music player. “I’m going to put that Tulsa song on again.”

She pulled some of the chairs away from the table to create a space and reached out to her grandparents.

“The anniversary couple are going to have a dance.”

“Go on, then,” Diane said, leading her husband into the space Jodie had cleared for them.

“It’s been fifty-odd years. It’s probably finally time to forgive Gene Pitney.”

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I could tell you liked me, and I was falling for you. I was asking how we would manage the distance