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On my way home from work one night I heard this song on a local college station, of all places! It had been a positively horrible day, and on my long hour ride home I was sad and torn, worrying about the state of my soul. Then out of the blue, these beautiful words reached out to me from the most unlikely of sources.

Turns out the musician was in town for a Reggae gig and was in-studio at the radio station. I was hardly listening to the interview bits, tuned as I was to my own misery. But then they played this song...

Imagine hearing gospel music on your local rock station - that's about how likely it would be to hear something like this on this particular college's airwaves. In fact I think you'd be more likely to hear the Blind Boys of Alabama singing "Amazing Grace" on Howard Stern's show. The effect that the song had on me at that moment was profound. Later on at home I immediately turned the Internet upside down trying to find a copy of it. I finally found it on a 45 (that's right, we're talking vinyl, people). It didn't seem to exist in any digital medium, so I plunked down the plastic and ordered it from a rather obscure Reggae site based in the U.K.

Joy of joys, the record arrived but there was one small problem - I hadn't had a turntable in eons. Granted, I still had a remoteless television set up until I married Mr. F, but even I, the queen of all things low-tech, didn't have a record player anymore.

Mr. F by now had realized how much the song meant to me. So for Christmas that year he went out and bought me a turntable so I could play the song whenever I needed it most. Just recently he figured out how to digitize it for me, so I am now happily listening to it in my iTunes library. I wish I could provide a link to it so you could all enjoy it too (there must be a Blogger hack for this, but I haven't found one yet.)

In lieu of the music itself, here are the lyrics, as best as I could decipher them. Imagine a beautiful soft reggae song sung by a male tenor and you get the idea.

The King is Amazing - Peter Hunningale

At times the pressure when the going gets tough and,
man I feel it when the road is rough
Weak and you're tired and you've had enough
Sound your praises to the One above

I know you can't fight it
without the love of the King the Almighty
hold onto faith tightly
and you'll be sure to go through

(Chorus:)
The King is amazing
there for me when I know I'd give in
living in a world of stress and fear
the King is amazing, yeah

Today we struggle through the war and crime, it's
like we're living in the very last time
if peace and love is still what's on your mind
sound your praises, let them hear your cry

I know you can't take it
but if you give up right now you won't make it
be real and don't fake it
and you'll be sure to go through

(chorus)

Although you try to live a virtuous life, still,
certain things are bound to cause you strife
put down the (???)
sound your praises, open up their eyes

I know you can't fight it
without the love of the King the Almighty
hold onto faith tightly
and you'll be sure to go through

(chorus 2x)


I'm still amazed by the timing that day, and the words, everything.
Thanks God...