This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way.
The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q.
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Complete disclosures available at public.com/slash disclosures. What's up y'all? Summer's got a different tempo. Everything's a little looser, brighter. One plan turns into another.
You hear something, you stay a little longer.
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And we continue here with our American stories, and up next. A story about a song, the story of how George Strait's Love Without End, Amen, came to be. Yeah. Songwriter Aaron Barker's son was born just two weeks after he turned 17. but he wasn't filled with dread at the prospect of being a father at such a young age.
Barker's own father, it turns out, wasn't present in his life. What better way to make up for that absence, he figured. than to have a boy, a buddy. of his own. I was with him in the hospital and I thought to myself, this'll be great.
We'll grow up together. He told a local reporter in Nashville in 2014, laughing at his naivete. It would take Barker a long time to learn that fatherhood, entails more. much more than being a friend to a son. More than 16 years, to be precise, when his son reached an age when boys test their father's boundaries, patience, and love.
Here is Barker talking about this very thing. At a songwriters' event in Huntsville, Alabama. I had to get on him one night and uh He had driven his car past where he was supposed to drive his car, both ways, everything. All the rules were out the window, so anyway I had to set them down and have this. Talk with him.
I got pretty hot and heavy with it. It went on. It was a school night, so he finally went to bed, and after he went to bed, I was kind of like... It just dawned on me that it was my time to be the dad. And so that was kind of a revelation to me at that point in our lives growing up together.
It turns out it wasn't just Barker's son who had a hard time sleeping that night. The father was still trying to process what had happened to him. He had his own doubts about how he'd handled things, not certain he'd administered the proper dosage of discipline. his son. No father ever is.
So Aaron Barker did what a songwriter who happens to be a Christian would do. Let's take a listen.
So I sitting there kind of doing what I do. My guitar has always been like my therapist, so I kind of call it getting on my knees and playing. It's somewhere between praying and playing songs and working on stuff, but looking for answers that way.
So I was doing that. I was getting on my knees and playing, and the question I had was: how can you? Be that mad at somebody and still love them that much. Where does that come from? And this song is the answer I got that night.
It was about four in the morning, and I. I also had a co-writer on this. It was God. That's when I learned God writes them and lets me put my name on them. And he didn't even take publishing on it.
The answer to that question he was asking God and to which God had an answer. Turned out to be the song Love Without End. Amen. which soon wound up in country legend George Strait's capable hands. The rest was history.
The song spent five weeks at number one on what is now called the Hot Country Charts. In April of 1990, giving Strait his first multi-week number one song. His prior number one songs, all eighteen of them, had spent only a week. at the top of the charts. Why did this song resonate with so many music lovers for so long?
And why does it still resonate today? Barker had his own explanations, one that had less to do with earthly concerns. and more to do with those of an eternal variety. The song tells the story of a troublemaking son who is sent home from school one day for fighting. only to find a father who, before disciplining his boy, shares some secret words his own father had shared with him when he'd been in trouble.
In the second verse, the narrator has himself become a father. And passes along the very same secret words his father had shared with him on a night his own son tested some boundaries. In the third and magnificent final verse, The narrator dreams that he's died. and he's standing outside heaven's gate. It is followed by the final chorus, repeated for a third time, but now imbued with a spiritual dimension, a deeply Christian dimension that emphasizes God's unconditional love.
for all of his sons and daughters. Here is Barker himself. Singing that third verse. And final chorus. Last night I dreamed I died and stood outside those pearly gates.
Suddenly I realized There must be some mistake They know everything that I've done, they'll never hurt me. Then somewhere from the other side I heard these words again. They said, let me tell you a secret. Down the words about You sing the bad light that he said. See, that is the only thing.
Just love their children every now and then. It's a love without ending. It's a love without ending. Thank you. All right.
For all the fathers out there doing our best to love our children. We're thankful. Barker chose to memorialize his deepest struggles and questions that fateful night. His story is the story of all of us who carry the name of Father with pride. All of us who believe that being a good father is the world's most important work.
All of us who believe that, in loving our children unconditionally. We come close to being godlike here on earth. It's not too late to join the best club in America, the Father's Club. and experience love. Unconditional love.
that never ends. The story of how George Drake's Love Without End, Amen, came to be. The story of fatherhood, and so much more. Here on Our American Stories. Lee Habib here, and I'd like to encourage you to subscribe to Our American Stories on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, or wherever you get our podcasts.
Any story you missed or want to hear again can be found there daily. Again, please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast. Podcast on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you get your podcasts. It helps us keep these great American stories coming. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans.
It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues.
Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. Hot take. You can disagree with someone and not hate them. I know, really groundbreaking stuff.
But lately, that line seems blurry because hate is rising across communities in all kinds of ways, and Jewish communities are getting a lot of it right now. You don't have to agree with people. You just have to not be awful. The Blue Square is a simple way to say, I'm with you, and I don't tolerate hate of any kind. Go to bluesquarealliance.org, get a pin, share it, and stand up.
This is Sophia Donner from OK Storytime. This summer, find your next obsession on Prime Video. And listen, we're not saying you need another obsession, but there could be a lot worse ones. Steamy Romance, Addictive Love Stories, and the Book to Screen favorites you've already read twice, so why not watch them a third time? Off-campus, L, the Love Hypothesis, and more.
Slowburn, Second Chances, Chemistry you can feel through the screen, and it makes you wish you were actually in that movie. We've got binge-worthy series, Can't Miss Movies, perfect for when you're ignoring your own problems or procrastinating, as one does. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. Here's the truth: you could literally be adored by everyone and then come home and still get completely ignored by your own cat.
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