Michael Kerr has just released his new video for the track titled ‘Life Goes On’. I may get a bit more personal with this review than I normally do so, please, bear with me. I suffer from clinical depression. I have for years. I often dwell on things that are smaller than they are because I beat myself over the head with some of the choices I’ve made and missing people that I never got to tell what they meant to me because they are no longer with us. Recently it’s been getting worse. Having said that; this song made me cry.
Musically it hits you right in the feels. But when you add those truthfully soul hitting lyrics, and the way Michael sings them, it hits home. It hits home in a big way. Beyond the title, the song is a somber reassurance.
It’s that somber reassurance that gives you that quiet epiphany. We are all going to die. If you look at death as the end, we all eventually lose. None of us will win. But only if we view death as the inevitable end. Our victories lay in the time we have now. If you are reading this, or watching the video above right now you have a small victory. You are here now. You are ABLE to read this and watch the video above. And, hopefully, you will have a similar realization as I do at this moment of writing. That feeling that this time, this time of life is what matters. What this means to me is that I need to show my fiancé that I love her. I tell her all the time. But, actions speak louder than words. I need her to feel it. One of us could die tomorrow. One of you could as well. Time stops for no one.
Please, do me a favor, if you have read this far. I know this may be a shit review. The music is so beautiful and the lyrics hit home in ways I can’t put into words because, I’m not a poet. Watch this video, follow along with the lyrics below, and think about someone you have an unfinished feeling with or have wanted to say something to about how they make you feel or what they mean to you, then, watch this video again with your eyes closed and try to visualize yourself and that person interacting as you would like to with this music as the soundtrack to that.
You may learn how to love again. Even yourself. This is where the music finds meaning.
Now, this may be either the best or worst review I have ever written, but I will leave that up to you.
‘Life Goes On’ Lyrics
I saw the light in your eyes
Burn out and fade out in time
I saw the scars on your face
Tell me that you’d lost the race
I asked you what there could be done
To make you feel more comfortable
Your answer I wasn’t prepared
With conviction and grace you declared
Pray for me
Put me in a box and carry me
Dig a hole and then you bury me
My life is done
Remember me
Put a stone on it and visit me
Say what you need to say then let me be
For my body’s gone
And life goes on and on and on
Life goes on
Oh I’m not gone
I live in you its just my human form
I breathe in you I’ve already won
But this body’s done
And oh remember what
What we said and the words we run
Its all you need when the damage done
And I will succumb
And life goes on and on and on
Life goes on
Pray for me
Put me in a box and carry me
Dig a hole and then you bury me
My life is done
About ‘Life Goes On’
This is a song about grief. One person helpless to do anything while the other is saying there’s nothing else to do other than accept the inevitable. It’s the end for one but not the other, life goes on and you have to keep moving knowing that the person that is gone, has given their blessing.
About Michael Kerr
Belfast singer/songwriter Michael Kerr is releasing a stunning new video and single ‘Life Goes On’ Oct 7th. The single is a first taste of Kerr’s new EP due out in 2022.
Influenced by greats such as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Van Morrison, ’Life Goes On’ is a song about grief. One person is helpless to do anything while the other is saying there’s nothing else to do other than accept the inevitability of death. It’s the end for one but not the other. Life goes on and you have to keep moving knowing that the person that is gone has given their blessing.
The video was created and directed by Danny Mills of Dan Dan Media. Starring local Belfast actor Richard McFerran, the story centres around one man rebuilding his life after a painful event in his life. Michael says, “I wanted to present the song as an emotive piece of storytelling as opposed to the usual me sitting on a bar stool playing the song. I was introduced to Dan through Doot Doot Music and I loved the previous work he’d done with other local artists and he’s hit the nail on the head with this video. I was not only delighted with it but I was also delighted that I didn’t have to be in it. I’m really looking forward to sharing it.”
About the song, Michael says, “the song is an older one I had and I sort of benched it for 5/6 years as I didn’t know what to do with it musically. I knew there was a good song there but I couldn’t place it or know how to best deliver it. When I was pitching songs in New York, it managed to find its way back into my periphery and I gave it to Michael Mormecha to throw some ideas at it. With that and the whole pandemic, it became a meaningful song again and felt right to get it out there. When I wrote the song I was thinking about a story my uncle told me when he visited my Grandfather in hospital just before he died. My Grandfather was unwell for a while and I think he knew he was ‘goosed’, as he used to say. My uncle said the night before he died he was with him and he determinedly took the oxygen mask off his face and said “its not working, take it away”. Despite my uncle’s attempts to force the mask back on him, he realized it was his way of saying I’m ready to go. It was a tough one to hear but that was my Granda, he knew when his time was up.”
Whilst making a living on the local circuit, Michael has been slowly building his portfolio as a singer/songwriter and he really came to the fore following the release of his 2018 EP, ‘Treasure Chest’. Since that release, Michael has supported artists such as Steve Earle, John Oates, Hothouse Flowers and he’s also been playlisted on local commercial radio stations as well as a play on Radio 1s Introducing.
His songwriting has evolved to form melody driven songs on a foundation of swelling guitars and heartfelt lyrics. ‘Life Goes On’ will be Michael’s first single release from his upcoming EP due out in 2022.
Featured image by by Joe Laverty.
LINKS:
https://www.instagram.com/michaelkerrmusic
https://www.facebook.com/michaelkerrmusic
https://twitter.com/mkerrmusic
https://www.michaelkerrmusic.com
