Saturday's Songs for the Soul: Celine Dion and Charice: Because You Loved Me

Thought for the Day:  Psychologically, mothers (or mothering surrogates who can be fathers, grandmothers or other caretakers for infants) are the most important figures for us all, since their care, love and perceptions of their children give them their initial sense of self worth. Tomorrow is Mother's Day. It is a bittersweet day for me, since both my mother and grandmother are no longer living. 

I was lucky that my mother moved to Boston about seven years before she passed away. I was able to spend time with her more frequently during those years. I found myself simply dropping by her apartment for no reason at all. It became a tradition to come by on my birthday, just to let her know how much I appreciated the gift of life and the love she had given me throughout my life. We would go out and celebrate on Mother's Day, but just spending time with her on my birthday felt more like Mother's Day to me. I wrote a Mother's Day series of posts in 2012 about all the women who have mothered me and helped me become the person I am today (Mother's Day Part I: How The World Would Change If My Mother Ruled The World, Part II: If My Grandmother Ruled The World, Part III: If My Mother, Grandmother & I Ruled The World, Part IV: If My Step-Mother Ruled The World, Part V: If My Daughters Ruled The World).

Today, therefore, I wanted to find a special song that celebrates mothers. At first, when I found "Because You Loved Me," I wasn't sure it was the right, since it is such a well known hit. When I found a rendition of the song in a duet by Celine Dion and a young singer, Charice, I knew I had found today's my song for the soul.


I had not heard of Cherice before and was simply amazed at her voice. The petitie 19 year old was raised by a single mother in the Philippines. Dion invited Charice to perform with her after hearing her sing on the Oprah Winfrey Show. In this sold out Madison Square Garden performance the song was dedicated to Charice's mother who was in the audience. Since this concert in 2011, Charice played the role of Sunshine Corazon on Glee and has had success in the world of popular music. The song was written by one of our century's greatest songwriters Grammy award winning Diane Warren, who was discovered herself as a teenager by John Braheny. 

Here's the performance: