Taxi

One of my favourite folk singers was Harry Chapin who campaigned tirelessly against hunger in America long before anyone even heard of Bob Geldof, much less Live Aid.

Harry had a number of hits, the biggest of which was Cats in the Cradle. A close second was Taxi, a firm favourite of mine. Like many of his songs, Taxi was written in the first-person and told the story of Harry, a taxi driver who once had dreams of flying. He had a girlfriend, Sue, who dreamt of being an actress. They eventually split up and Harry ended up driving a taxi, getting high on substances that relieved him of his own sense of loss.

One day, he picks up a fare, none other than Sue who was indeed acting - but by putting on an act in her own lonely, unhappy life. Taxi was a beautiful song which tugged at your heartstrings in the way only Harry Chapin songs could. Some have said it was because his songs were really about ordinary people, dealing with real issues that could happen to anyone. Probably because of this quality, many have spoken of a certain connect with his songs.

Taxi's come back to me in a way, because the most extraordinary thing happened a few days ago.

I received an email which read:
'I Know puteri suzanna...if you would like to get in touch with her I may help...'

Despite my request, this person remained anonymous, but did give me her mobile number and so it was that on Saturday morning, I called the number and spoke with Puteri Suzanna for the first time in almost 25 years.

Unlike in Chapin's song, this Sue and I never had more than a friendship, but the idea of connecting again after a quarter of a decade, and through a blog extolling personal change, is remarkable. Our journeys are vastly different from the song's protagonists and thankfully so - in the song Harry drops her off and they don't see each other again.

Both Sue and I, on the other hand, are looking forward to filling the gap of the intervening years.

Amazing.