This one cuts deep.
Ben Burgess released a new song today called “Son of a Fireman,” which finds him reflecting on the loss of his father and the time he gave up with him as a result of chasing his music dreams instead of going back home to Dallas as much as he should’ve.
It’s an extremely personal and introspective look at the grief and emptiness he feels with such an important presence in his life and family gone.
While he was out writing #1 hits (he and Kevin Kadish co-wrote Morgan Wallen’s “Whiskey Glasses”) and finding success so he could one day buy his dad a house on the river and a new Cadillac, his father was sick and ultimately passed away:
“I moved to California looking for that pot of gold,
Then to Nashville,
Where me and a buddy wrote a song y’all probably know,
By the time that I made it, he was gone,
Now, I could buy him that house by the river,
Where he could wake up every morning and cast a line,
I could back that brand new Caddy into his driveway,
But the only thing I guess I couldn’t buy,
Was more time”
If you’ve ever experienced the loss of a parent or close relative, it’s certainly an unfortunate concept that I think so many people will relate to on a very deep level.
Ben says he wrote the song after his father passed away and realized the hard way that all the money in the world couldn’t buy him more time:
“I wrote this song after my father passed. I used to tell myself, “when I ‘make it’, I’m gonna buy him a big ole’ house and a new Cadillac, everything he ever dreamed of.
Unfortunately, when I could finally afford to get him all that stuff, cancer had its way with him and it was too late. Losing Pops was tough.
I had a lot of guilt for not going home more. Turns out, all the money and all the success in the world couldn’t buy him more time. Hindsight’s 20/20″
Grab a few tissues before you hit play on this one…
“Son of a Fireman”
