Here's a new song I wrote recently.  Check it out and read the story behind it below.

Also, at the bottom of this post find out how you can download this song in the all new, password protected area of the Brother Howe site, The Vault.

Remember that scene in Walk The Line, the biopic of Johnny Cash, where the famed Sun Studios owner Sam Philipps asks Cash, "If you was hit by a truck and you were lying out in that gutter dying and you had time to sing one song; one song people would remember before you're dirt; one song that would let God know what you felt about your time here on earth; one song that would sum you up; you're telling me that's the song you'd sing?  Or would you sing something different? Something real. Something you felt.  Cuz I'm telling you right now that's the kind of song that people wanna hear.  That's the kind of song that truly saves people."

Who doesn't love that sentiment?  And while I don't have any grand illusions that this song fully achieves that, it's probably the closest I've come to it in my songwriting personally. 

Two years ago Jeri had a thyroidectomy due to cancer.  Scary.  She's okay, but there have been many ups and downs in her recovery since then.  I remember getting up one morning, looking in the mirror and thinking, "Nobody knows how long this body's gonna last."  All my grandparents lived to be pretty dang old, in fact my Grandpa Howe is 94 years old and still alive and his mom lived to be 101.  So I've always assumed that I'm going to live longer than I probably want to.  But we're here today and gone tomorrow, even if that tomorrow is in 60 years.  So how then are we going to live?  

I try really hard not to be preachy, especially in songwriting.  It turns me off when I hear it in other songs and since I'm a pretty religous guy, I try and guard against it.  But recently I've been thinking about the kind of songs I want my kids to have from me.  What am I telling them?  What do I want them to know?  How do I want them to live?  Am I living that way myself? 

So this is a song for my wife.
 
It's a song for my children.

And it's a song for myself. 

So enjoy this Bob Dylan-esque piece.  Here are the lyrics:

NOBODY KNOWS

Chorus
Nobody knows how long this body’s gonna last
Might be ten more  years, might be much more or less than that
It’s a son of a gun but it always goes too fast
Nobody knows how long this body’s gonna last

 Verse 1
And I say don’t worry, there’s no time for that
And I say don’t hurry, there’s always time to chat
And I say don’t beat yourself, over all those things you done
For there is forgiveness, yeah, for me and everyone

 Verse 2
And I say dear children, don’t find out in the end
That all along the way you were just playing pretend
So find out what you’re made of and do what you were meant to do
And don’t even listen to what the devil’s tellin’ you

Verse 3
Every moment is a gift, so enjoy every one
Do all the things you want to do and have lots of fun
But remember you must give an account for everything you do
So do the good things that God prepared for you to do

If you'd like to download the song for your iPod, we've placed it in The Vault, the all new, password protected area of our website:

http://www.brotherhowe.com/the-vault.html