Prayer For My Children

Album: Soul Of Ferguson (2017)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • St. Louis soul singer Brian Owens wrote this heartfelt plea after the 2014 death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager who was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. He spoke of the song in a 2017 Songfacts interview: "How do I explain all this to my children? That's basically what 'Prayer for My Children' is. It's a prayer, but it's also an explanation to them of expectation and letting them know, 'This is your dad's worldview on what's going on. This is how I pray you will come to see the world you interact in.'"

    Owens advice to his children is to stay rooted in their faith. "My favorite line in that song is, 'Color and country don't define or make you who you are. God's love is the only thing that sets each one of us apart and binds us together.' We're all uniquely made. We're all created uniquely but at the same time we share so much in the fact that we were created by God. It's not too heavy but it's like our wrapping paper is our wrapping paper, but we all have a soul and a spirit and a mind and we have more similarities than we do differences."
  • This was originally written as a suite that contained two more songs.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Bob Daisley

Bob DaisleySongwriter Interviews

Bob was the bass player and lyricist for the first two Ozzy Osbourne albums. Here's how he wrote songs like "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" with Ozzy and Randy Rhoads.

Laura Nyro

Laura NyroSongwriting Legends

Laura Nyro talks about her complex, emotionally rich songwriting and how she supports women's culture through her art.

90s Music Quiz 1

90s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

First question: Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson appeared in videos for what artist?

Shaun Morgan of Seether

Shaun Morgan of SeetherSongwriter Interviews

Shaun breaks down the Seether songs, including the one about his brother, the one about Ozzy, and the one that may or may not be about his ex-girlfriend Amy Lee.

Five Rockers Who Rolled With The Devil

Five Rockers Who Rolled With The DevilSong Writing

Just how much did these monsters of rock dabble in the occult?

Artis the Spoonman

Artis the SpoonmanSong Writing

Even before Soundgarden wrote a song about him, Artis was the most famous spoon player of all time. So why has he always been broke?