"It's a Life"...perhaps the most difficult song I have written thus far. A song about the life and death of my father, William F. Dent. How do you honor, celebrate and grieve a life...all in a 5 minute song? I mean, the great songwriters make it seem so easy (don't we all marvel at how effortlessly a John Prine song can wrap its arms around you and transfer the love, humor, beauty and pain of someone else's life?). I wanted the song to be bigger than my own grief...bigger than my own sense of loss and regret. I didn't want the song to bring the listener into a valley of mourning for 5 minutes...only to leave them there, with no way out. I needed the song to lift me out and, hopefully, lift us all up.
My dad gave me so much...most of it I did not appreciate until the very end of his life. We know this already, but I will say it anyway: Do not wait until the moment of someone's last breath to say "thank you"..."I love you"..."I appreciate what you did for me".
The time is now...every breath is a gift, every life is important and worth living...hold each other up...breathe deeply...the time is now.
