
l-r Terry Scott Taylor (Daniel Amos), me, Michael Roe (The 77’s), Derry Daugherty (The Choir)
Rediscovering a song that has rolled around in my head for two decades without my really paying attention to the lyrics. For that, Terry, I am sorry. Terry Scott Taylor is one of the most talented musicians and songwriters out there. So to know that an artist has put so much thought and clearly prayer and anguish into his work and to just let it wash over… Well, let’s just say I have always appreciated his work, but I am now finding a new depth and power to it.
I have long loved the group Daniel Amos, as I have said many times, but lately, as I return to their albums, I am struck again by the depth and power of their music and lyrics. Who writes a song that includes Buechner, Dorothy L. Sayers, CS Lewis, and GK Chesterton?! Or an entire album inspired by William Blake? These are rare artists indeed. 1For the record, I had come to love those authors long before DA came out with this album, but it further explains why I love their music. Our interests clearly run parallel. This song, “Stone Away,” speaks for itself, but speaks to me at this time because, well, I think you can figure that out.
Stone Away
from the album “BibleLand”
Words and Music by Terry Taylor, Tim Chandler, and Ed McTaggart
©1994 Twitchen Vibes/B-1 Music/ Chenka-Chenka Music/ Word Music, ASCAP
Just as I was leaving
Just as I stopped feeling
Just as I was dying
and every word denying
I felt the wound
saw the empty room,
‘Cos you had flown away
and just when I was sleeping
and just as I stopped breathing
and just when I’d grown colder
and thought that it was over
felt kingdom come
blood on my tongue
rolls the stone away
Now you fall like a shadow I cannot touch
And faith itself is half the battle, I don’t have much
(roll the stone away, roll the stone away)
Just as worlds were ending
and just when I was winning
and just as the door was closing
and just as my hand was folding
the whole earth shakes
the stronghold breaks
so you can fly away
Now you fall like a shadow I cannot touch
And faith itself is half the battle, I don’t have much
(roll the stone away, roll the stone away)
Well, it’s good to know
you own my soul
and you have flown away
So how can I deny you
when I’ve walked beside you
Well I’m just a coward crawling
and I am an angel falling
Oh carry me
and bury me
then roll the stone away
- 1For the record, I had come to love those authors long before DA came out with this album, but it further explains why I love their music. Our interests clearly run parallel.