Tom Hipps: Music

• MP3 play whole song, hi-fi (broadband)
• MP3 play whole song, lo-fi (modem)

This is an acoustic version of the song that appears on the Everybody & Their Brother album. Many years ago, on my birthday, I was lying in bed hung over (partied the night before that year) and wondering if I would keep repeating the cycle of partying every weekend, even though I had been trying to follow God. Happily, the cycle has been broken. I'm not saying I never party anymore... but it is the exception rather than the rule, and not to the extent of those days.

Why on earth should I be lying here today
Paralyzed on the eleventh day of May
I'm all alone I can barely lift my head
Just one step this side of dead
Will I ever break the chains that are holding me down

Who is God why does he live so far away
Every time I get too close he moves away
And I'm left alone I am saddened by the loss
I don't want to be the boss
'Cause I'm never sure of what I'm supposed to do

But then ever so softly ever so slowly
Ever so sweetly I come back to life
Peeling back the veil and
Seeing who I really am in you

Soaking up your lovingkindness like a sponge
Pretty soon I guess I'll have to take the plunge
I must admit it's a fairy tale to me
But somehow you've set me free
And the only thing I'm missing is a reason to die
And it won't be found