Phillips LaRue: "I wanted to write a song to listeners reminding them that they only live once. Hopefully that is what came across."
"I wrote this song for those that are caught in the rat race of life or stuck on survive. It is so easy to let life go and forget what we are really living for. It breaks my heart to think of those that have grown old and have been chasing all the wrong things--or at least not the things that mattered most." --Phillip LaRue
"Home" is a great new song by Phillip LaRue, and the current single from his debut solo album, Let the Road Pave Itself, an album full of catchy songs that do not sound commercial. Phillip writes stay-in-your-head songs from the heart and real life musical stories about open-book faith, his closest loved ones and struggling friends who don’t always believe as he does. Phillip and his sister Natalie released 3 albums as LaRue, and charted several pop hits including "Reason," "Waiting Room" and "OK To Cry." The duo called it a day after Natalie got married.
I had the great opportunity to interview Phillip about "Home," and this is what he shared with me.
Please tell me about the background in writing the song "Home."
When my wife's grandfather was diagnosed with cancer, the news hit us all hard and obviously impacted him. But the strangest thing happened. Here was a man that lived a hard life, not really showing much emotion to those around him, but after he heard the news, he began painting, writing poetry and even letting us know how much he loved us. He lived the last six months of his life to the fullest. It was lovely. I only wish he could of experienced that kind of living long before he got sick. I was extremely impressed by his transformation and wanted to write a song to listeners reminding them that they only live once. Hopefully, that is what came across.
Is there a personal story about the message of that song?
Yes. I think I can get lost in the noise of this life many times. I want people around me to remember to hold onto what matters most.
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What's the takeaway message for listeners regarding the song?
To live in the moment because the moments go so fast and to say before they die that they were known by God.
Power lines go left and right
Sometimes I wonder if this city's just a maze
And I'm lost in it
Lately its green to red
And I just cant stop thinking bout
What you said
(Chorus:)
I don’t wanna let you go
But you need to learn to fly
I just wanna let you know
You only have one life to try to find out
What it means to be alive
I hope you find your home
I keep hoping something’s up your sleeve
You gotta give me something
To birth some belief
Lately its hard for me to sleep
You know its funny
when I'm awake
I feel like I'm dreaming, dreaming
Don’t you block out the sun
Don’t you block out the sunshine
(Repeat)
Chorus
Don’t waste a lifetime just to know
So please come home
I really love the message of this song as well as Phillip’s heart for sharing the importance of having a relationship with God during our short time on this planet. As Phillip said, many of us spend way too much time chasing the wrong things that don’t matter. This idea of not living for temporal things has been recurring in a few songs I’ve been enjoying this year including "All Along" by Remedy Drive, "The Words I Would Say" by Sidewalk Prophets and "Can’t Take Away" by Mikeschair. The part of the song that challenges me the most is "You only have one life to try to find out what it means to be alive".
A theme in these devotionals over this next month will be to reflect on that question while digging into the background behind current songs in Christian music that are all pointing us to think about our priorities and whether or not we are living our lives in relationship with God.
Posted August 17, 2009 | Kevin Davis is a long time fan of Christian music, an avid music collector and credits the message of Christian music for leading him to Christ. Kevin also writes reviews for ChristianMusicReview.org. He currently lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and three daughters.
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