Lantern in the Snow

Album: Wonderama (1991)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song is about being lost and found: "Tonight, dark night, without a star to guide you sweet child, lost child come home. We will watch, we will pray, love will light your way gently like a lantern in the snow." Randy Stonehill is a worship artist, this song is a metaphor for converting to and being enlightened by Christianity.
  • Stonehill penned this alongside songwriter, Terry Taylor. During our interview, Stonehill told us that Taylor understood the musical visions he had for this track: "I think the first thing we wrote together on that project was 'Lantern in the Snow.' And it was so funny, because this is the idea I had: if Keith Richards went to Snow White's house for Christmas, it's got to have this whimsical thing, the guitar part's got to be right, it's got to have that little feel of the Stones doing 'Ruby Tuesday' or 'Back Street Girl' or something. And he just got it immediately." Stonehill added it was a great experience working alongside Taylor: "Because he hit upon something about songwriting that I think is important and true, and that is it's kind of a naked, vulnerable experience to just open your heart and put these ideas on the table in front of somebody else. And for that to be productive, there has to be a mutual sense of trust and respect so that you can be transparent enough to risk putting an idea on the table that might not work or might not be as good as the other guy's...And so I was really honored that he respected my work enough that he would come and embrace that experience for one of the first times in his own career."

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