A Navy sailor's love song landed him the girl and, decades later, an album
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania — It's been 61 years of wedded bliss for Mort and Susan Block. But the couple says their meant-to-be almost never was.
Not because of Mort — he knew he wanted to marry Susan from day one.
"It was just like that – it was instant for me," he told CBS News.
It wasn't that way for Susan.
"I didn't have any grandiose feeling that it was going to go anywhere," she told CBS News.
To complicate matters, Mort, a Navy sailor, was headed out to sea after their first date. On the bridge of the destroyer Hazelwood, he wrote a song for Susan.
The song, called "My Love," worked its magic.
"Then it went in a drawer, and it stayed there," Mort said.
Until their grandson, Matt Block, saw the sheet of music and shared it with some friends.
"Everyone was like, 'Damn, this is a hit. This is great,'" Matt, who co-founded La Reserve Records with his brother Jacob, told CBS News.
Matt gathered some of the best studio musicians in the country and they took that dusty, old love song and made it sing. Mort's love song — originally intended for an audience of one — has now been played more than 1 million times on social media.
"I was floored," Mort said.
"It was unbelievable!" Susan added.
And that was just the beginning. This fall, 82-year-old Mort will grace the cover of an album called "Strange Harbors," featuring "My Love" and other collaborations. Perhaps it will earn him a Grammy next year, but for Mort and Susan, the song of the year will always be their song.
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