Storytellers - a ‘Story’ behind a song

24th October 2008

When we get to read the life stories of the people who wrote some of our greatest old hymns, I think it can give us a new found appreciation for the richness of the lyrics which have been borne out of the depths and of the faith and hope in God despite the circumstances that the authors faced.

One of the more famous examples of this is the story of Horatio Spafford , the man who penned the words to 'It is well'. In case you aren't familiar with it, here's how it's recounted in an article in Wikipedia.

In 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the S.S. Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with another ship, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, "Saved alone." Shortly afterwards, as Spafford travelled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.

Listening again to the words with this story in the back of your mind adds a whole new complexion of meaning and depth of reality to them.

Recently, I had a similar experience with a very much more modern songwriter, Laura Story. Laura is perhaps most famous for writing Chris Tomlin's massive hit 'Indescribable'. But I recentlt picked up her own album 'Great God who saves'. I was struck by the quality of her lyric writing - she dealt with a wide range of life experiences in a fresh and engaging manner. In particular, she had a few songs on the album which expressed the darker side of life, of finding faith in God in the middle of difficulties.

I was already impressed with the songs. Then I came across this video which told something of the struggle Laura faced in recent years as her husband took a brain tumour. All of a sudden, I say her lyrics in that deeper light, knowing that she was writing from a place she knew because she was there, crying out to God from the pits. Listen to her story here:



This video gives a brief introduction to the album and will allow you to sample some extracts of some of the songs:



For more information, check out Laura's myspace page.

Alistair Hamill