Song Stories: Glow

Album: a november life

Track Number: 9

Lyrics:

Electric glow, it pales your face I’m headin’ home from this place The plane flies over our heads The light fades into the distance

I am alone for the last time, for the last time, the last time I am alone for the last time: I’m tired of feelin’ numb

Your cell phone keeps you company Ignore the man in the next seat The farther we can stay apart Plastic and numbers form our hearts

I am alone for the last time, for the last time, the last time I am alone for the last time: I’m tired of feelin’ numb

Numbers and chemicals Explain it all away Get rid the Wonder And set it all up in flames

Numbers and chemicals Explain it all away Get rid the Wonder Get rid the Wonder of His Name

Story: I got the idea for/started writing "Glow" in 2006. I was a sophomore in high school and riding home on the bus from a show choir competition. It was dark on the bus and the only lights were the emergency lights and the glow of a girl's cell phone lighting up her face. I leaned my head against the cold window and stared at the stars, thinking about existence and feeling numb and alone. I thought about how close we all were to each other on that bus and yet how far apart we were, especially the girl basked in the glow of technology. The lights inside the bus and the stars up in the sky were joined by the distant flashing of an airplane, as far from me, it seemed, as the girl on her phone. I felt disconnected and like the whole of existence had been reduced to numbers and plastic and chemicals--that God had been eradicated and there was no more need for Wonder in existence.