News

By Kathleen Gilbert

November 25, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A heart-rending tale of a reluctant young father discovering the joy of sacrificial love, Kenny Chesney’s hit country song “There Goes My Life” has stunned audiences with its message of the sanctity of human life since its 2003 debut. The song even appears to have saved the life of at least one unborn child, according to a comment posted under the music video on Youtube, and has possibly played a part in saving others.

The lyrics, written by Neil Thrasher and Wendell Mobley, capture perfectly the quandary of a young man whose dreams are shattered when he learns his girlfriend is pregnant.  “There goes my life,” Chesney sings.  “There goes my future, my everything.  Might as well kiss it all good-bye.” In the music video the father of the child is portrayed as a star football player who is forced to give up a promising career to care for his child.

The story fast-forwards two years later when the young man realizes his daughter was no “mistake,” but as the chorus eloquently reflects, she embodies “my life, my future, my everything” that he was sure he had lost.  The ending reflects on the father years later as he watches the now-teenage girl drive away to college, revisiting once more his agony of detachment after learning to love his daughter’s life more than his own.

(To watch the music video, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MIJShOqh8Q)

The song’s deeply human story deals a devastating blow to the abortion mentality, which casts an “unwanted” child as a mere disruption in its parents’ lives. It’s pro-life message has evidently resonated deeply with its audience: “There Goes My Life” spent seven weeks as #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart the year it debuted, and its YouTube video has over 1.4 million hits to date.

For many, the song cast into relief the absurdity of choosing abortion, and many gave vent to how the song made them painfully aware of their regret for an abortion, or relief at having chosen against it.

“This song came right on the radio as my wife told me she was pregnant and wanted an abortion,” one commentator wrote on the Youtube page. “It’s been a year and now our lovely baby boy is the most important thing in both our lives, and I can’t help shed tears every time I hear this song.”

The Youtube forum has been flooded with comments from mothers and fathers who saw a reflection of their own lives in the bittersweet song, and those of frightened young parents who were strengthened by the song’s example of courageous fatherhood.

Another commentator wrote, “I recently found out that I am going to be a father, and this song describes exactly what was going through my head. I am starting look forward to it and every time I hear this I cry.”

“I can relate,” wrote another commenter.  “My birth parents were unmarried college students. I was adopted at 2 months old and have always considered my adoptive parents better than a kid could ask for. I thank God and my birth parents for making the tough decision not to abort me, and maybe even the tougher decision to give me up after I was born.”