Song Analysis Of George Strait's Song, I Believe

George Strait co-wrote “I Believe” with his son and songwriter Dean Dillon during the aftermath of the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012. On December 14th, 2012, shooter Adam Lanza walked into the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut and fatally shot 20 children and six adult staff before taking his own life. Strait was among those asking why, so he turned to songwriting to help him sort out his grief and anger. “Like everybody, I was watching it on TV. I’m just shaking my head. It was so sad and…you know I was thinking, ‘I know what these parents are going through.’ It’s just the worst thing that can happen to you in your life, to lose a child. There’s just nothing worse than that” (Strait). With those thoughts
He mentions someone watching him from heaven; another reason to believe this song is about his daughter. Although Strait is traditionally quiet about his beliefs, one can get a good sense of who he is through his song choice” (Killebrew). But he has had a rough journey. George was raised in a Christian home and fell away in his college years. It was not until his daughter died in 1986 that George realized his need of a savior. This change was reflected later in his music when he started writing songs. And even though George Strait has had a rough journey, I am excited that he will be in heaven with his daughter again one day. As quoted in a book, “Some say that the sparkle went out of George Strait’s eyes when Jenifer was killed. And, it’s probably true. Since he didn’t want to do much of anything but grieve for her, there was a spiritual change in George that is reflected in his life today and the music he chooses to sing. His core belief in God would sustain him through it all. He was raised to believe in God by a man, his father, who did. When something that tragic happens you immediately turn to God for help. Your perfect world of fame and fortune is set aside for a reason to it all. In George Strait it is said that he decided to live for what he had not what he had lost” (Teutesch). Another one of my favorite songs by him is “I Saw God Today.” Wikipedia says, “The song is a mid-tempo ballad in which the lead character is walking down the sidewalk after his wife has just had a baby, meanwhile noticing such things as a flower growing out of a crack in the sidewalk, a couple who are expecting a baby and the colors of a sunset. Finally, the song ends with the central character in the nursery of a hospital, looking at his own newborn baby girl. He cites each thing that he sees along the way