"Something Left to Give" by The Starting Line, Thursday, August 19, 2021

Howard Benson has two Grammys for his production and quite a few Dove Awards, the Christian version of the Grammys. Benson started producing hard rock bands in 1989. Ten years later, his production for P.O.D.'s The Fundamental Elements of Southtown went multiplatinum. P.O.D. kept producing records with Benson, and other rock acts followed. Benson's early records have that early 2000s hard rock style you can hear in bands he produced like Crazy Town, Blindside, Trust Company, My Chemical Romance, Flyleaf, and Hoobastank. But little by little, Benson was developing pop sensibilities. In 2005, Benson produced The All-American Rejects' Move Along and Hoobastank's "The Reason" was a pop mega hit. He went on to work with Kelly Clarkson, Daniel Powter, Daughtry, and Rascal Flatts, as well as being a go-to producer for hard rock acts like Red, Skillet, and Of Mice and Men. But somewhere in the middle, lies Benson's alternative and pop-punk records, like Relient K, Simple Plan, and today's band, The Starting Line.

SOME WERE SATELLITES, OTHERS PLANES. I talked about "Island" and The Starting Line's Direction album back in April and I mentioned "Something Left to Give" as one of my favorites from the album. Track 6, directly in the middle of Direction, "Something Left to Give" is an acoustic campfire ballad, in which the young singer Kenny Vasoli, 23 at the time, looks up to the night sky and thinks of the stars that he discovers, which he will tell his children and grandchildren about. Scientifically speaking, one man's naked eye discovering an unknown planet or new star seems unlikely, given the telescopes we have today. However, metaphorically, Vasoli is probably talking about the experiences he has had that he has kept to himself, not telling a soul. These experiences he will relate to his children and grandchildren. Despite these stories not being "that interesting," a father's perspective on the world can shape his children's future. With those stories will come the lessons he has learned from them. The lyrics of "Something Left to Give" remind me about how temporary humankind is. Compared to the age of the earth, the longest human life is but a fraction of a nanosecond. Ancient humans were looking up at the same stars that we see every night with much less of an understanding about them, unaware that at any moment, a rock could come hurdling through the atmosphere, obliterating every chance of a future, and yet, it hasn't happened. The same constellations we gaze up on a summer night graced the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans, and their mythology has been passed down to this day. For a young man to stare up at the stars and find something to call his own is arrogant, in the grand scheme of things, but it's quintessentially human.

I'LL HEAR MY CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN SING. "Once you get in the van, the day is over." Abram's sage advice was playing in the back of Allan's head, as the sun was setting in the countryside of Gangwon-do. Pastor Shim had prepared a long message and the message turned into hymn singing, and all of it was in Korean, which Kelly sparsely interpreted at Allan's request. Some of the ajummas had lit some lamps that were attracting bugs as they were rolling kimbap. "We're so bored," Jenny said, loud enough for some of the congregation in the back to hear and jolted Allan out of his daydreams as he stared at the waning crescent moon and the evening star. Jenny was Pastor Shim's eldest child. She was holding her younger brother's hand as she shook her limbs the way a restless child does when seeking attention. "Ok, ok. I think your dad is just going to preach for a little while longer then we're going to look at the stars." "That sounds boring," Ji-hoon said. "Have you looked at the stars before?" Allan asked. "In the city, you can't see them. But here, it's dark and we can see the constellations. See it's getting darker." The congregation began singing a hymn in Korean. The melody made him feel like a child again, safe and secure. It was a hymn that he had grown up singing in church, but he couldn't think of the title or the English lyrics. After the hymn, Pastor Shim said, in English, "We came tonight for earnest prayer for the future of our institution." Kelly interpreted the pastor's message in Korean. "We have one faithful missionary here tonight, and yet, across the country, our institutions are suffering financial losses. We are here tonight to pray that God will change the hearts of the headquarters in Seoul that want to shut down this institution, if we cannot raise the funds, our building will close--scattering the church." The cool air bit Allan as he thought of his role in the church's continuation. He thought of the English students who were dragged to this "stargazing event" as an English opportunity. "But tonight, we pray that just as God promised the descendants more numerous than the stars, he will send students who will become church members. Teacher Allan, would you lead us in this prayer?"

Read the lyrics on Genius.