Suzy Bogguss – “In Heaven”

When Suzy Bogguss performed the song “Heaven” at the Grand Ole Opry some time back, she could see a number of people in the audience reaching for their handkerchiefs and she herself had to look away to keep her composure as she sang. I have loved this song very much since the first time I heard it, and I often find myself humming it. It would make me very happy if others could hear it as well. Maybe the people in that audience had been through that experience themselves or knew somebody who had. Of course their having had that experience themselves would make them more able to understand what the song is about.

I think its a beautiful song. You dont hear songs like this too often so its a nice change. She has an amazing voice and the lyrics of this song Im sure we all can relate to one way or another. My grandfather reccently passed and it makes me think of him. The first time I heard this song I stopped what I was doing to listen to it, and I dont do that very often. I will admitt it brought tears to my eyes.

I think the song is great because I lost my husband two and a half years ago and my dad two months and one day before that. I just started seeing someone a little over 4 months ago and my mother just started seeing someone a couple of months ago. My daughter was driving from one work site to another when she heard this song and she said she just started crying because it sounded so much like my situation with her dad and my new love. As soon as she got home from work she called “mom you have got to call the radio station and request this song In Heaven by Suzy Bogguss. It will make you cry, it sure did me.” I requested it and yes I cried and so did my mom even though she’s not in love, yet. I have requested it again for my new love and he said this is how you explained to me you felt a couple of months ago you just didn’t have the music with it. Our radio station says this is a really much requested song here, so it must be good. I think Suzy does it great and it makes you feel like you have God’s blessings, too. It is great to find love twice in a life time.

I’ve been a professional musician and artist for 35 years and always wondered “who” has the authority to judge art or music. It’s polite to criticize only if you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Matt C.
I ran across your review while I was researching this song. Your analysis might be a bit too technical. I suppose you could listen to Sara Beth by Rascal Flatts and not get wet eyes, too. The odds are against it, but I hope for your sake, if that’s what you wish, you never have to go through any experiences that will allow you to be affected by this song. Most grown ups, however, understand that those experiences are what makes life wonderful, and country music is an expression of that life. This song reminded me of that.
I heard this song yesterday for the first time when Suzy performed it live on A Prairie Home Companion, and the audience didn’t seem to have any complaints. She also said her husband wrote the song. I hope he was trying to tell her anything, but it may have saved my life.
I’ve been divorced for many years and will never marry again, but a couple of years ago I met a wonderful woman. Her husband died long ago under questionable circumstances and left her to raise their two kids alone, which she’s done amazingly well. Although I know she’s fallen in love with me, I just don’t seem to be able to return it; too much baggage, I guess. I shouldn’t have gotten married in the first place.
I’ve have had some hard times recently and was selfishly contemplating something similar when I heard Suzy sing this song. Once I heard it, I couldn’t believe I was being so selfish I was thinking about doing the same thing to this wonderful woman for a second time. I hadn’t been able to find a way to tell her. So, I got a recording of the song, learned the lyrics and chords in a few hours, and I’m going to sing it to her when she visits later this week. I’ve already committed it to memory and know it by heart, I just haven’t gotten the feeling into it yet. That shouldn’t be a problem, because even though I’ve played it dozens of times already, I still can’t get through it without crying. Ultimately, though, it caused me to stop feeling sorry for myself and get back in the fight. I’ve got a lot to live for and I’ve got a few asses to kick, yet.
This is the sin of the commercialization of art. This song might not mean anything to you, but an artist never knows when they’ll produce that one piece of work that means everything to someone, if only them. That’s what keeps the good ones going, not your silly reviews. I hope I someday get to thank Suzy for this song. And her husband.
I do have you to thank for being able to listen to the song over and over until I could get it down. Thanks at least for that.

Jim C.

I lost my wife 2 1/2 years ago to cancer. Lying on her deathbed, she made me promise two things: to raise our daughter well and to find myself a new love.

I am in love with and engaged to a widow who lost her husband just over 3 years ago.

This song captures beautifully the emotions that both my fiancee and I confront–the passage from grief to life again; the laying aside of the last remnants of guilt that you might be somehow betraying the memory of your first love, now lost to you forever; the regathering of your life and the reawakening to a new beginning; the closing of a chapter and the opening of a new one. It’s all here, and with a tenderness that is both appropriate and emotional.

If music is supposed to adhere to some esoteric formula with hooks that you can rate and standards that are consistent and routine, then by all means apply the review above. If, however, music is designed to touch the soul and elicit an emotional response and if lyrics are there to give voice to essential human experience, then the review above is wrong. Sorry, but from one who knows these emotions firsthand and believes that music is meant to reveal to us our own humanity, this song gets a lusty THUMBS UP!

I disagree with this review. If you download the iTunes version of this album, it comes with some extra interview pieces where Suzy talks about a few of the tracks and what they mean. This song was written by Suzy’s husband, and it is about a friend of theirs who’s wife had recently passed away. You don’t hear many songs these days (in mainstream music anyway) that derive from and express such an emotional situation. This song is real, and it feels and sounds real, and to me that is what music is all about.