Yeah, from the bottom of our hearts!
I go Ecstatic whenever I watch & listen to Garth Brook’s ’Unanswered Prayers’ in CMT Channel.
I. Would you believe me if I say, we’re peaceful, contented & happy in our life keeping good relationship because of ’unanswered Prayers’ ? When we don’t know for sure what is good for us, we ask God to grant all our prayers. How unreasonable we are!
Here is the song that brings home this poignant reality that gives a rare insight into human nature, thoughts, feelings, expectations & conditions (which are universal) that go to make / mar one’s mental make-up and relationship with others.
The Song ’Unanswered Prayers’ by Garth Brooks, the Titan of Country Music, is one of my greatest Country Music favourites for its theme and the quality of music. Believe me, it is a liquid delight! Even when read, you’ll be thrilled to note the song calling up pictures to your mind as if you were there witnessing the whole scene & a party to what’re all going on!
II. A Brief about Garth Brooks:
He is a world-renowned, fan-friendly & greatly successful solo Artist who beat Elvis & Beatles in sales of albums ---100 million in U.S., (can you believe it?) & a master communicator & entertainer & showman for decades. We can find some rock in his Country! He does it superbly well. His numbers make audience go ballistic! Such is the power of his music & his rapport & closeness with his fans. His live concerts are the proofs for it.
III. About the song:
a) I feel Brook’s ’Unanswered Prayers’ is the magnum opus among his songs. It speaks from the heart with a winning , ’endearing intimacy’. It is ’warmly philosophical’ , ’sweetly devotional’ & magically thrilling to hear. It has an ambience suited to Country Music with its rural steel guitar & fiddle & its diction spiced up with rural Country idioms of daily speech. In this song, a master showman that he is, Brooks ’has pushed all the favorable buttons’. (those within inverted commas are borrowed expressions)
b)Details about the song:
Written By: Pat Alger, Larry Bastian & Garth Brooks
Sung By (Artist): Garth Brooks
Album: ’’Double live ( 2 Disc Live Set)’’ C.Ds (not listed in the MS) / ’No Fences’ --(2000)
c) The Main Theme Of The Song:
This song is quite simple & no introduction or synopsis is required. Brooks sings of an old high school ’flame’ in an easy to understand sparkling style. Don’t we feel related to this situation?
IV. Now, let’s go into the song:
a)The Chance Meeting & Its Initial Impact:
’’Just the other night after a hometown football game
My wife and I ran into my old high school flame
And as I introduced them the past came back to me
And I couldn’t help but think of the way things used to be.’’
b) The ’Flame’ & the Past adolescent Fantasy & Wish:
’’She was the one that I’d wanted for all times
And each night I’d spend prayin’ that God would make her mine
And if he’d only grant me this wish I wished back then
I’d never ask for anything again.’’
c) The Present Stark Reality:(after the fantasy loses its gloss & wears off)
’’She wasn’t quite the angel that I remembered in my dreams
And I could tell that time had changed me
In her eyes too it seemed’’
We tried to talk about the old days
There wasn’t much we could recall
And as she walked away and I looked at my wife’’
d) The Realization: (wisdom dawning on the man)
’’And then and there I thanked the good lord
For the gifts in my life.
I guess the lord knows what he’s doin’ after all.
Some of god’s greatest gifts are all too often unanswered..
Some of god’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers
e) Generalization & Philosophization : ’Just are the Ways Of God!’
’’Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you’re talkin’ to the man upstairs
That just because he doesn’t answer doesn’t mean he don’t care
Some of god’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.’’
Explanation of this Stanza: Note the expressions, used by Brooks:
i) ’The man upstairs’ jocularly refers to God.
( compare this with Robert Browning’s ’God’s In Heaven & All’s well with the world’ in Pippa’s Song),
ii) ’when you’re talking’ means ’praying to God’ from close quarters thinking that God is close by within ear-shot ready to favor you, and
iii) ’he doesn’t answer’ indicates ’ God does not grant your prayer’ purposely though He listens to you & REALLY cares for you!
Note the use of humorous daily country idiom & an ennobling metaphor!What an analogy!
V. General Appreciation of the Entire Song.
This song is more a Poem than a mere verse as it has all the qualities & ingredients of great poetry. It conforms to Alexander Pope’s norm for a poem : ’What was often thought but not so well expressed’ and to another criterion for a poem, ’Best words in the best order’.
By subtle suggestion, it tells about the16-year-old boy & his ’high school flame’: Is it not a fact that the horny 16-year-old-boys just do not pray for the right things? It’s an adolescent male’s fantasy to have a girlfriend & to have her as partner till the end of life as if it were impossible for him to live a moment without her. Had God granted his prayer, what shall the relationship be like when the boy is no longer a boy? That’s what this song tells us not explicitly but by implication . It brings home with astonishing felicity & force the philosophical perspective of Life & the lessons to be learnt in life.
What beautiful Lyrics! How sweet and mellow? How profound in meaning? What A song!
VI. The important lessons to be learnt from this Song: (Quoted)
’No mam ought to stand above another’
One’s right cannot stand over one’s conscience
& most importantly, no one stands above God!’
VII. Conclusion:
Friends,
I’d advise watching (in TV / VCD) this top delightful song scene which is sure to leave a lasting impression for life in your mind. Pl. don’t miss it! Why not watch and listen, understand & appreciate & enjoy & be thrilled by Brook’s ’Unanswered Prayers’ for a start & go on to his all-time-best songs like: (in other albums too)
’Calling Baton Rouge’
’Friends in Low Places’.... (about the rowdy blue-collar)
’If Tomorrow Never Comes’... ( what will happen?)
’The American Honky Tonky Bar association’
’We shall Be Free’ which is sure to touch your soul?
Why not we collectively celebrate by singing along Garth Brooks like his fans who ’go ballistic’ at his concerts used to do?
Please stop and spare some time for this review. Have you had any such ’Unanswered Prayers’ in your life & if so, were they for better or for worse? Give this review your personal touch, will you?
Shania is waiting to be Reviewed!
I shall be looking forward to your feedback.