Music has always been around to tell stories to others. People love to show people what they have learned about and/or just to tell a story about anything they have on there mind or seen in their lifetime. Sometimes people/song writers just tell their stories that are just about things that have to do with absolutely nothing. It is the songs that tell about problems in peoples lives that make really great songs.
Here’s the song “Lightning” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f59hjVW-fZI
Eric Church, a country singer/song writer, writes lots of songs about his life and about stories he's heard. One of his songs, that not very many people have heard or know about is a song called "Lightning." It's about a man killing someone. There is one part that says "These four walls of Farnworth, are closin' in on me." That lyric is about a man that is in prison. The four walls are the prison cell that the man is locked up in. The prison that has been holding him is in a town called "Farnworth." The walls of the cell block are starting to kill the man that they hold inside of them, because he has been there so long that he knows that the inevitable is going to happen.
Eric Church shows us about how this man got to this prison by telling us about it in this song. It tells us that the man in this song kills another man at a liquor store. The man that he kills is the store attendant. The store attendant pulled a gun on the main character of the song, so he shot the attendant. When that attendant fell to the floor, the main character stopped and dropped his gun to the floor as if to say he was remorseful for what he had just done. The only reason he was robbing the store was because he needed to feed his baby girl. He could not feed her because he had no money. Now he has to pay for his crimes. So he has to be put to death for it. The mom of the man he killed is at his execution, along with his very own daughter that he did the crime for. When the "boss,” or the executioner, yells "roll on two," it means that its time to put him to death in the chair. That’s the last time his daughter sees him. The victim's mother is happy about his death.
The way it ends is a way that many people like to see things end, happily. Even though it is mostly a very sad song, in the end of the song the main character gets to go to heaven for being remorseful for his crimes. "Now I'm flyin', up an' out of here, I close my eyes an' slowly rise." Flying up is a way that he sees dying. He is on his way up to see the Lord, himself. When he closes his eyes it lets him see where he is going to spend the rest of eternity. "Yeah, tonight I ride the lightning, to my final restin' place". It’s him getting put to death by electrocution aka "by the chair". He will see where he will be for the rest of eternity, next to the Lord.
This song shows that it is just a way that Eric church is telling the story of a man who gets put to death. That it is a story that not very many people would like to talk about. The killing of someone that just doesn’t deserve to die. That also goes for when the state puts a man to death for his crimes. Eric Church shows us that you can talk about it and not be afraid to talk about things that are hot topic ideas. When topics like this come up it takes a strong person to talk about these problems.
Source: Church,Eric. “Lightning”. Sinners Like Me. Capitol Records Nashville
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