website for the lyric video for“ Just Like That,” there were 4,500 messages from nurses and doctors, people who wanted to donate their beloved’ s organs, but the bureaucracy stopped them from being able to get to the person that needed them. I found out how disorganized and backed up the bureaucracy was, and that only something like 3 or 8 percent of the organs actually find people that desperately need them, and that those people lose their lives because of it. I ' ve gotten letters from people who got to hear the heart of their beloved’ s in someone else ' s chest, the way that I was inspired to write the song. Their children are living because of the donation and the kindness of another family that donated the organs. That song has gotten more response than I ever would have expected. I was doubly overwhelmed, just in tears for days, reading the beautiful letters. People can still go on that site and read them. Within a few months, President Biden announced that they were going to overhaul the organ donation system and make it easier. Who knows whether Jill Biden giving me that
award that night at the Grammys ®, maybe she went back and was able to focus with her husband on that issue. The ripple effect of that song has been incredibly beautiful for me, and something that I never would have expected.
Anastasia: My sister was a transplant patient, and we learned that one of the donors was an 18-year-old young man who died in a motorcycle accident. Your song reminded me of the life that was passed on from one person to another.
Bonnie: I’ ve gotten so many letters, and I keep them all. I also get a lot of letters about“ Nick of Time” when that song came out. There’ s a lot of people who say that they played it in the delivery room when they didn ' t think they ' d ever get pregnant. They wanted to honor that song and what it meant to them. That made me really happy.
Anastasia: How do you pick the songs that you sing from other artists?
Bonnie:: I do a lot of research and a lot of listening. When I did an INXS cover of“ Need You Tonight,” I knew I was going to cut that. It was just a question of which album. I knew that I wanted to sing“ Dimming of the Day,” but I wanted to wait about two or three decades between my version and Linda Thompson, who did such an exquisite version. I wanted to let hers live on its own. After a while, I went,“ You know what? Life is short. I got to be able to sing this every night.” I always pay tribute to Richard Thompson when I sing it. So, a lot of it is just the fun part of listening to oldies stations or going through my old record collections and digging deep under cuts of artists I already love, and I may find some jewel that I didn ' t know about, and then I cover that. But, usually, it starts with just me being a fan. n
Bonnie Raitt with special guest Jimmie Vaughan & The Tilt-A-Whirl Band will perform at Tanglewood on Sunday, August 31, at 7 p. m. bso. org / tanglewood
ART IN ALL FORMS
25TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
NORTH ADAMS, MASS. | massmoca. org
May Holiday / June 2023 2025 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // // 35