31 Years Ago George Strait Released a Song About Three Dads

31 years ago this day, country music veteran George Strait released hist song "Love Without End Amen."  The song was released as the lead-off single from his album Livin' It Up. Written by Aaron Barker, the song spent five weeks at Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart, giving Strait his first multi-week No. 1.

The song speaks of the love of three fathers, two earthly ones, and a heavenly counterpart. The first verse of the song finds a boy being sent home one day from school for fighting. The boy tells his father what had happened, expecting punishment from his father. Instead his father tells him that fathers always love their children, and that such love is a "love without end, Amen."

In the second verse, the singer has now become a father. He has no doubt that his son was "just like (his) father's son," and he passes his father's secret on to his son. In the third verse, the singer dreams that he has died and is standing outside the gates of Heaven. When he has doubts if he will enter or not then a voice from heaven reiterates the words His Father once said to Him, illustrating the ultimate "Love Without End."

When songwriter Aaron Barker was asked why the song resonated with so many people, this is what he said: "That's the way God loves us," Barker explained. "And that's why it's in us all the time. We're born with it. You can get pretty mad at somebody you love, but you still love them. And then I thought, 'How cool is that? Maybe I can get away with some mistakes I've made and still get in the gates, you know? When it's all over?'" 

Listen to the song here.

Here are the words:

I got sent home from school one day with a shiner on my eye
Fightin' was against the rules and it didn't matter why
When dad got home I told that story just like I'd rehearsed
Then stood there on those tremblin' knees and waitin' for the worst

And he said

Let me tell you a secret about a father's love
A secret that my daddy said was just between us
He said daddies don't just love their children every now and then
It's a love without end, amen
It's a love without end, amen

When I became a father in the spring of '81
There was no doubt that stubborn boy was just like my father's son
And when I thought my patience had been tested to the end
I took my daddy's secret and passed it on to him

I said

Let me tell you a secret about a father's love
A secret that my daddy said was just between us
He said daddies don't just love their children every now and then
It's a love without end, amen
It's a love without end, amen 

Last night I dreamed I'd died and stood outside those pearly gates
When suddenly I realized there must be some mistake
If they know half the things I've done, they'll never let me in
Then somewhere from the other side, I heard these words again

And they said 

Let me tell you a secret about a father's love
A secret that my daddy said was just between us
He said daddies don't just love their children every now and then
It's a love without end, amen
It's a love without end, amen 

 

Tags : Aaron Barker george strait Love Without End Amen Country music george strait news Father's Day father's love