Both these songs are in their different ways a celebration of women. While Dierks' song is about a more specific woman being the savior in ones life, Keith's song is more about women in general.
I hadn't heard any of these songs beforehand, which often is the case for me with the songs Home Free cover, so I went to YouTube to have a listen. I always do that when Home Free release a cover, and I always find their version better than the original. That certainly doesn't mean the originals are bad in any way, it just means that the way Home Free perform music is more to my taste.
I love the depth in their sound; it's so full, but you can still hear the distinction between the different parts. This song is no different. I love both of the original songs for several reasons; the lyrics are pretty amazing and speak for themselves, really, the melodies fit the lyrics and the respective voices of Dierks and Keith enhance the songs. All those things are important to me.
One thing one has to remember when comparing an original song to a Home Free cover is that Home Free does not use any instruments - all sounds are made with the human voice (and the occasional body percussion, and in 2 songs violins). I am in no way knowledgeable enough to understand the difficulty in transforming an instrumental arrangement into a vocal arrangement, but think about it - how do you replace drums, bass lines, guitars, pianos and other instruments with simply voices AND MAKE IT SOUND EVEN BETTER AND FULLER than the original? It can not be an easy task to do!! To me that deserves a lot of respect and admiration.
Because this is a medley of two songs with different tempos the Home Free arrangement has a faster pace of the "Female" bits of the song as the original is much slower. I like both the original slow pace and the higher tempo of Home Free's cover.
So what do I love about this particular cover? Well, everything, but to be a bit more specific than that I love Tim's bass line - it is absolutely amazing! It always is, but for some reason this one hits home a lot for me. I love Adam's bass drum and steady heavy beats - that man really is a freak of nature. How can those sounds come out of one man's mouth? It's crazy, I tell you! Crazy! Chance is amazing for the lead, as always! His voice is so smooth and so raw at the same time and it fits this song perfectly. Austin is the one singing the "Female" bits of this medley and it's of course a perfect fit with the more uptempo pace matched with his voice and joy of life. And then we have Rob - loving, caring, cuddly, sweet Rob who so clearly sings about the love in his life, his wife. Rob's part is the chorus and when he sings it you feel how content, in love, joyful and safe he feels in his love for her. He believes and means every word he sings. If you watch the video you will see it in his eyes, in his smile, in his body language; if you listen to the song you will feel it in his energy. And I'm in love with it!
All of these guys are radiating with love, always, and that is a huge reason why I love them so much, why their music and they speak to me so profoundly. They love music, they love life, they love their lives, they love their loves, they love what they do and they love their fans. And it shows and it spreads.
This song makes me just a little bit happier than I already am, and I am a very happy person.
This song has come to mean a lot to me, and I'd like to share the reason why; I love personal growth, it is one of my great life passions and I am a huge fan of loving oneself. I believe that it's the key to live a happy life and I believe that living a happy life is the key to a happier world. Here's how and why; if I am happy I automatically allow the people around me to be happy too, but if I am unhappy the people around me have a tendency to hold back their own happiness because they don't want to "rub it in my face". It's how we are taught to act and react - to take care of other people's needs first and foremost, before taking care of our own needs. We are taught to spend our lives making other people happy before making ourselves happy, and when everybody is taking care of everybody else first than no-one is taking care of themselves. Here's the problem with that; people who don't take care of themselves are not happy. It's like with the instructions you get on a flight; take care of your own oxygen first before taking care of your kids' oxygen. Why are we told to do that? Because if we can't breath and get oxygen we are of no use to our kids. If we don't make sure we are happy first, we can't help anyone else be happy.
So what does all this have to do with this song, you might ask? This song is a celebration to women, and a woman that saved a drifter specifically - I am that drifter, but I am also that savior. So when Home Free sings "Thank God for this woman, Amen" I think and feel "Thank God for this woman, I am". Because, I am so grateful and happy for who I am, but I am also so grateful and happy for who I was, and I am so grateful and happy for who I am becoming. So, thank God for this woman I am! being me has saved my life - because being me means caring for myself first and caring for myself first has brought me to a place where I can truly say that my life is magnificent and happy in every single way.
Remember I mentioned earlier in this post that I am a very happy person? This is why. I take care of myself first and foremost. So what about the people around me, how happy are they? Well, because I don't take care of them they get to take care of themselves. They make their own decisions and do what makes them happy in their lives. I see them thrive and I see them being happier than they used to be when I used to take care of them first before me. This means everybody is happier. And because they take care of themselves first the other people in their lives get inspired to take care of themselves first too - and so we are creating a happier world. It all starts with you being responsible for your own happiness, and with you allowing everybody else to be responsible for their own happiness. Who wouldn't support someone they love in the pursue of their happiness? I'm sure this is part of the secret with the love Home Free are spreading; they are following their own happiness leading everyone around them to feel happier as well. I am simply following my take on their lead.
Now, this is my way of thinking and living, and I find that it works perfectly in my life and for the people in it. I follow my happy paths towards my dreams and I'm having a heck of a lot of fun doing so!
So here's to me! And here's to all of you; Enjoy your life, dare being happy!
Who do you think about when you sing or hear this song?
Love//
Carina
