Remembering Dory Previn

MY DEAR FRIEND of nearly 40 years, Dory Previn, died last week. She was a great songwriter who exposed her deep feelings about love and lovers, life and feelings, religion and paranoia in poetic lyrics that truly expressed her unique sensibility. Yet her writings illuminate all of us as we struggle to find our way in the dark. When Previn performed at Carnegie Hall in 1973, a friend of mine who had never heard her before, poked me and whispered: "How does she know me? How does she know those details about me?"