One of the greatest songwriters of the past 50 years is
Wayne Kirkpatrick. I have sung his praises before. To my knowledge he has only
produced one solo album, entitled, The
Maple Room, and from that album comes the song, “In Another Light.”
Although the song is obviously written about a marriage relationship (“Hey,
that’s my ring on your finger”), perhaps it has something to say to all of us
about seeing things in another light. How often do the “shadows of our
yesterday” get in the way of our love for one another? Don’t we sometimes need
a new perspective that “tends to the wounds of the past” but looks beyond the
wounds of the past. In marriages and other relationships there will always be “demons
that rummage through the past of what” we’ve done to each other. In a highly
polarized, easily wounded atmosphere, life might be better if we took a step
back and looked at things in another light.
On his Facebook page, Kirkpatrick says that he has been “married since 1985 to the same
girl I went to high school with and we are still rockin'!” So, despite the
challenges noted in this song, he seems to know how to navigate the ups and
downs of married life. Take a listen to the song and see if it rings
true in one or more aspects of your own relational life.
In Another Light
Words and Music by Wayne Kirkpatrick
Standing like statues
Stubborn unmoving but breakable
You say there’s nothing wrong
But that look is so unmistakable
Angry and wounded
Well I’m sure your reasons are justified
You’re searching for changes
Oh, but there are quite a few you’ve yet to realize
And you would see things differently
If you chose to look at me
In another light
Shadows of our yesterday,
Bow to love and melt away
In another light
Changing the angle
Well baby that could be our only chance
Some new perspective on it
That tends to the wounds of our circumstance
Cause I feel like screaming
Damned if I don’t, damned if I do
Chasing those demons
That rummage through the past
Of what I’ve done to you
You would see things differently
If you chose to look at me
In another light
Shadows of our yesterday,
They bow to love and melt away
In another light
Hey, that’s my blood on your sabre
Hey, that’s my voice in your dark
Hey, that’s my ring on your finger
Hey, that’s my love in your heart
That’s my love in your heart.
You would see things differently
If you chose to look at me
In another light
Shadows of our yesterday,
Bow to love and melt away
In another light
In another light.
Yeah, in another light.
In another light.
And, in another light.
Maybe a love should be strong enough to look beyond the past.
Oh, our love should be made to last.
