Music is Good for the Soul on Father's (every) Day

Father’s Day hits a little differently for me every year, depending where I am in life and what’s going on in my world. As I feel it would for anyone who has lost a parent. This year Father’s Day (and Mother’s Day for that matter) fell right in the height of our global health pandemic that is keeping people more isolated than we ever have been. There is a wave of emotions that are hard to put into words, lucky for me I have pinpointed several songs that do it for me.

I have a soft spot for new dads, so there should be no surprise that when a new dad releases a song and a music video that highlights the sweetness between a new father and his baby the happy tears start flowing. Both Brett Young and Tyler Hilton portrayed this beautifully in their latest music video releases.

Tyler Hilton’s song When I See You, I See Home was actually a song he wrote and sang for his wife Megan Parker on their wedding day. Tyler recorded the song for his City on Fire album, but re-recorded the song with an orchestra and his wedding footage. I said this article was about songs that remind me of Father’s Day, so stick with me because the love that Tyler had and continues to have for Megan has grown into his love for his new daughter. The video ends with home footage of bringing their daughter, Winnie, home and Tyler singing the title of the song when I see you, I see home as he is nose to nose holding his daughter. Tyler’s home just got a lot fuller! It’s clear to me now that I have found a place/somewhere to fall/somewhere that I call my own. A beautiful sentiment. Now he has two pairs of eyes he looks at and sees home, one pair that is half him and half his wife. He is going into his first Father’s Day with so much more meaning to this song than when he originally wrote it, which is the true beauty of music when a song can evolve in significance and enhance the meaning.

You can always run to daddy/you’ll always be my baby/but look at her baby girl and you’ll learn how to be a lady. I know its Father’s Day, but what about those single parents that hold down the fort for two? In my family Mother’s and Father’s Day are for my incredibly strong and fierce mother. What I love about this Brett Young song Lady is the pure loving appreciation Brett has for his wife. Brett is also a first time Dad, and in his first song about the life change to his baby girl he reminds her that dad will always be there to protect you, but you also have the epitome of grace, patience, and love in your mom, the qualities of a true woman. There would be no Father’s Day without all the mothers out there, so bravo Brett for making your Father’s Day memento song just as much about your wife’s bond with your daughter as your relationship with her.

When you grow up without a father Father’s Day brings up emotions of what you miss out on. The milestones that weren’t shared together. A big one for father and daughters is getting to see your daughter walk down the aisle, being able to give her away, or have that father daughter dance. There are definitely songs that nail this emotion, regardless if the parent is deceased or not, daddy’s little girl falling in love and growing up is a timeless theme. Up and coming country singer songwriter Madison Kozak has a very sweet song called First Last Name. It is an ode to her old man, that even when her last name changes, her dad will always be the first man in her life who made her the woman she is. He can give me away but no one can take my first last name.

An artist who captured this sentiment to her father and brought the entire crowd to tears at the 62nd Grammy’s was Camila Cabello with her performance of First Man. Camila’s dad was in the crowd as she sang this song to him. You held me tight now someone else can but you were the first man that really loved me. Hard to let go of your little girl for anyone, because in parents’ eyes nobody will ever be good enough. I personally lost it when Camila walked down the stairs to her father as she sang the part about walking down the aisle. I say I’ve never seen you cry before/you say “you’ve never looked so beautiful/ you know I will always be your little girl.” Try to get through the video without crying, I dare you!

Now that you are probably already crying let me just keep it going with Luke Bryan’s heart wrenching song Build Me a Daddy. Luke has one of the biggest hearts in country music. He tragically lost his siblings and took in his nephews as his own along with his own kids. Father’s Day is just as much for those male role models that filled those empty shoes if you happened to lose a father. I sure miss him/ maybe you can bring him back/ if I walked in with him it’d sure make my mama happy/if you could build me a daddy. So Happy Father’s Day to all the step-in supermen out there, this song is for you.

I leave you with a song with no hidden meaning other than if you lost a parent sometimes you're left with the desperation just to see their face or hear their voice. Andy Grammer teamed up with Dutch DJ Don Diablo for their new collaboration Thousand Faces. Don lost his father and Andy lost his mother, so this song is equally personal to the two artists. There’s a thousand faces but you’re not around/would I make you proud if you could see me now? One of my favorite lines is I’ve come so far but once in a while it breaks me. If you lost a parent or loved one it isn’t everyday you are stuck in these feelings of what you're missing out on, what qualities of yours remind you of them, or thinking about what they would think of your accomplishments. It is just certain days that those emotions come to the surface.

I welcome these feelings when they surface annually (if I’m lucky for it to be that infrequent). My father always said music was good for the soul, that was his tagline. He wasn’t around long enough to see how much I grew up to be so passionate about the same thing. He was right though, music is SO good for the soul. The lyrics that seem to be written for me this Father’s Day and every other day are out there when he can’t be. Music knows the words before I even know I need to listen, and that puts a smile on my face. Happy Father’s Day! I hope you all get to spend it with loved ones and I also hope, if needed, you can find a song to soothe the soul. So, happy listening. Till next time. ~Rox