Behind the Eyes (CD)

Somewhere down the road there'll be answers to the questions. . .

What could you see if you looked deep into the soul of Christian music's best-loved performer? What would happen if Amy Grant stepped out of the limelight for a year or two, re-acquainted herself with the love of an old guitar on the porch of a rough log cabin and wrote from the gut, sparing no emotion in the expression of an honest woman's spiritual journey?

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You'd see Behind The Eyes, that's what. You'd hear the most vulnerable musical thoughts from a woman who's taken an unflinching emotional inventory and come up with twelve songs that tell the truth about the most reflective season in her life.

And what you'd hear is sometimes painful, always true, and ultimately hopeful, a journal set in song, crafted on the resonant wood and wound steel of a folk singer's favorite instrument,  layered lightly with the sounds of seventies pop of the folk-rock variety, brought forward and freshened. Take the pared-down introspection of Lead Me On, the irresistible hook-laden melodies of Heart In Motion, add the maturity of a woman in the prime of her life (who's picked up a guitar and rediscovered the writer within) and you've got Behind The Eyes. Twelve extraordinary songs about faith and doubt, friendship and family ties, love, longing wondering and wandering: from the cheerful encouragement of "I'll Be Your Friend" and the windows-down, crank-it-up, day-tripper dream of "Leave It All Behind" to the poignant and pensive ("Somewhere Down the Road," "Missing You") and the doggedly optimistic ("Turn This World Around," Curious Thing" and "Every Road").

Amy Grant
Behind the Eyes

"It takes a little time sometimes/To get your feet back on the ground"
-Amy Grant, "Takes A Little Time"

From feelings of fear and vulnerability to hope and acceptance, the album is the product of the personal examination that ensued.

"A few close friends, whose opinions I trust, asked me why my songs failed to represent the person that they know me to be," she says. "It was time to go below the surface, to make a record that might inadvertently shake up people's perceptions of me. What I found was that it shook me up most of all."

For the next two years, she mined the depth of her feelings, sometimes painfully, and emerged with a better understanding of herself. "It takes a while to grow up, to figure out what you have to bring to the table," says Amy. "I felt this need to confront the structure of my life, who I am, what I believe and how that compels me to live - a complete self-examination from head to toe."

With that examination came a new awareness of the human condition - an awareness that is reflected in the songs on BEHIND THE EYES. From the social observations of "Nobody Home," a bittersweet tale of an economically devastated ghost town, to the pleading anthem "Turn This World Around," inspired by an encounter with a homeless man in a Santa Monica Park, Amy's inner voice shines throughout. "The sense of connection in the human experience is the crux," she says about the new album. "The hunger and longing every one of us knows inside/Can be the bridge between us if we tried" may well sum up the album's humanitarian themes.

The album also marks Amy's return to her musical roots. BEHIND THE EYES (whose tracks were produced by either Wayne Kirkpatrick or Keith Thomas) relies on uncluttered arrangements and acoustic instruments to underscore the raw reality of the emotions. From the lilting, uplifting "I Will Be Your Friend" to the simple yet sophisticated ballads of loss and longing, "Cry A River" and "Missing You," Amy Grant lays her thoughts bare.

Amy admits she composed many of the songs with the thought of playing them alone on an acoustic guitar, which she picked up again in the process of making the album. "I rediscovered my love for playing the guitar...playing all the time...for my kids, in the living room...just like when I first began to perform. This is the first album on which I actually played guitar. Before anything else was added to the arrangement, the individual tracks had to be strong enough on their own - lyrically and melodically.

Whether it's the twangy, skiffle beat of the tongue-in-cheek "Curious Thing," the bluesy, rocking "Takes A Little Time, " the daytripper dream "Leave It All Behind," or the yearning strings and flute that turn "The Feeling I Had" into a meditation on lost innocence, the constant is that voice - at once instantly recognizable and alluring, revealing truths both large and small.

"These songs are not about life being perfect," says Amy. "They are not about convincing anybody of anything, but I'm willing to stand behind every one of them and say, 'Either you like them or not but they are all meaningful for me." Much as in the bittersweet revelation "Like I Love You," Amy suddenly I realized she was singing to herself on many of the songs on the new album. "It's strange, if you ask me what that song is about, I would say, 'This is how I believe we all want to be loved.' But if you're ever going to love anybody else, you have to be able to love yourself - and that's not the blatant selfishness of "I want things to go my way.' it has to do with issues of respect and not abandoning yourself."

Amy's glimpse BEHIND THE EYES shows a vulnerable, feeling individual who isn't accepting easy answers, but continues to count on her faith to see her through. As she sings in "Somewhere Down the Road," reiterating her belief; "Somewhere down the road/There'll be answers to the questions....Though we cannot see it now...You will find mighty arms reaching for you/And they will hold the answers at the end of the road."

"I wrote that after spending the night at my cabin two years ago under a full moon," she says. "I really do believe that it's not a mystery forever. I truly believe that there's life after this. Every pattern in nature says that. I have faith that there is a bigger picture here that involves a Creator who I trust. I don't get it now, but that's because from this vantage point, I can't see the big picture, but I trust someday I will."

On BEHIND THE EYES, Amy provides the musical and lyrical companion to her continuing journey down life's ever-changing path.

*All photographs provided by Myrrh Records. Used by permission (p) 1997. Unauthorized useage of these photos is prohibited by law.

(Amy Grant & Wayne Kirkpatrick)

So much pain and no good reason why
You've cried until the tears run dry
And nothing else can make you understand
The one thing that you held so dear
Is slipping from your hand
And you say

Why, why, why
Does it go this way
Why, why, why
And all I can say

Somewhere down the road
There'll be answers to the questions
Somewhere down the road
Tho' we cannot see it now
And somewhere down the road
You will find mighty arms reaching for you
And they will hold the answers at the end of the road

Yesterday I thought I'd seen it all
I thought I'd climbed the highest wall
Now I see the learning never ends
And all I know to do is keep on walking
Walking 'round the bend singing

Why, why, why
Does it go this way
Why, why, why
And all I can saySomewhere down the road
There'll be answers to the questions
Somewhere down the road
Tho' we cannot see it now
And somewhere down the road
You will find mighty arms reaching for you
And they will hold the answers at the end of the road

Copyright © 1997 Age to Age Music, Inc./Warner Chappell. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

(Amy Grant & Wayne Kirkpatrick)

There you go making mountains
Out of such a little hill
Here I go mixing mortar
For another wall to build
There's a struggle in this life we lead
It's partly you
It's partly me (but)

Every road that's traveled
Teaches something new
Every road that's narrow
pushes us to choose
And I'd be lying if I said
I had not tried to leave a time or two
But every road that leads me
Leads me back to you

Here we stand in the middle
Of what we've come to know
It's a dance, it's a balance
Holding on and letting go
But there is nothing that we can't resolve
When love's at stake
When love's involved

Copyright © 1997 Age to Age Music, Inc./Warner Chappell. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

(Amy Grant & Wayne Kirkpatrick)

It takes a little time sometimes
To get your feet back on the ground
It takes a little time sometimes
To get the titanic turned back around
It takes a little time sometimes
But baby you're not going down
It takes more than you've got right now
Give it time

What's this walking thru' my door
I know I've seen the look before
Sometimes in faces on the street
Sometimes in the mirror looking back at me
You can't fix this pain with money
You can't rush a weary soul
You can't sweep it under the rug, now honey
It don't take a lot to know

(Chorus)

Now it may not be over by morning
But Rome wasn't built in a day
You can name this thing a thousand times
But it won't make it go away
Let me put my arms around you
And hold you while you weep
We've been talking and talking
I'm sick of this talk
And it's nothing that won't keep

(Chorus)

No you can't fix this pain with money
You can't rush a weary soul
You can't sweep it under the rug now honey
It don't take a lot to know

(Chorus)

Copyright © 1997 Age to Age Music, Inc./Warner Chappell. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

(Amy Grant & Wayne Kirkpatrick)

There was this guy, he was down on his luck
He was truly poverty's child
Well, he had no home and he had no car
And he wore a weary smile
Moved out to L.A., knocked around for awhile
But he was getting nowhere
Then he did this movie and it did really well
Now he's a millionaire
See, life is a curious thing
Life, ooh life is a curious thing

I know a man who could paint the town red
Had a college degree in fun
'Till the doorbell rang and a long lost flame said
"This little boy is your son"
Gave him a suitcase and a bear
Left 'em in a cloud of dust
Now he's checking out schools and driving carpools
Learning to adjust
He says life is a curious thing
Life, ooh life is a curious thing

Well, I know that it can be demanding
I know that it can be unkind
I don't really understand it
But Lord sure knows I try
Life is a curious thing
Life, ooh life is a curious thing

Let me tell you 'bout a kid I knew
A pudgy girl back in school
She had greasy hair and geeky glasses
Object of ridicule
The other day in the check out line
They were ringing up my rice and beans
There she was, a pretty little face
On the cover of a magazine
And I said life is a curious thing
Life, ooh life is a curious thing

(Chorus)

Just goes to show that you never know
Just what tomorrow may bring
But I'll tell you this that what it is
Is seldom what it seems
'Cause life is a curious thing
Life, ooh life is a curious thing. . .

Copyright © 1997 Age to Age Music, Inc./Warner Chappell. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

(Amy Grant)

Your smile lights up a room
Like a candle in the dark
It warms me through and through
And I guess that I had dreamed
We would never be apart
But that dream did not come true

And missing you is just a part of living
Missing you feels like a way of life
I'm living out the life that I've been given
But baby I still wish you were mine

And I cannot hear the telephone
Jangle on the wall
And not feel a hopeful thrill
And I cannot help but smile
At any news of you at all
And I guess I always will

Cause missing you is just a part of living
And missing you feels like a way of life
I'm living out the life that I've been given
But baby I still wish you were mine

Missing you is just a part of living
And missing you feels like a way of life
I'm living out the life I've been given
But baby I still wish you were mine
I'm living out the life that I've been given
But baby I still wish you were mine

Copyright © 1997 Age to Age Music, Inc./Warner Chappell. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

(Amy Grant)

I cannot take the heat
This girl's going home
Standing on my own two feet
Standing alone

I'm just a little weary of
All the talk and all the buzz
And all I ever wanted was
The feeling I had with us

I cannot take the heat
I guess I'm letting go
I'm tired of stitching up my dreams with
This thread of hope

I'm still a believer of
Twin hearts and timeless love
And all I ever wanted was
The feeling I had with us

All I ever wanted was
The feeling I had with us

The road of life is rugged
Any road you choose
And when I find the other side
I'll look for you

But I cannot take the heat
And so I'll say goodbye
A million things I never said
Didn't even try

'Cause words are cheap and sometimes cruel
And stuff you hear is seldom true
And all I ever wanted was
The feeling I had with you

Yeah, all I ever wanted was,
The feeling I had with you

Copyright © 1997 Age to Age Music, Inc./Warner Chappell. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

(Keith Thomas, Amy Grant & Wayne Kirkpatrick)

Why do lovers drift apart
How does love fade away
When do pieces of a broken heart mend again
You've been crying in the dark
And you've been feeling alone
Don't be scared of what you'll find
When you turn the light on

Ain't nobody gonna say goodbye
Ain't nobody gonna walk away
This time, baby, I'm learning how to love you, love you
Ain't nobody gonna make you cry
Ain't nobody ever really tried to love
Like I love you

What sad memory of yesterday
What terrible scar
Keeps you gathering pieces of
Your shattered heart
There was once upon a time
When hope was living within
I know there will come a time
When you can believe again

(Chorus)

How long have you been feeling lost and lonely
How long have you been sad and blue

This time, baby, I'm learing how to love you, love you
Ain't nobody gonna make you cry
Ain't nobody ever really tried to love
Like I love you

This time, baby, I'm learning how to love you, love you
Let me love you, like I love you

Copyright © 1997 by Sony/ ATV Tunes LLC, Yellow Elephant Music, Inc. All rights administered by Sony/ ATV Music Publishing, 8 Music Square West, Nashville, TN 37203. Age to Age Music, Inc./Warner Chappell. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

(Amy Grant & Wayne Kirkpatrick)

Who knew love would come walking thru' my door
Turn a light on somewhere down inside
And give me a feeling I'd never had before
It was a long wait
It was just the wrong time

But I hope you'll hold me now
Somewhere within
And when you think about
What might have been

Cry a river
Flood the sea
Cry a river over me
Take the bitter
With the sweet
And cry a river over me

How can you argue with a feeling in your bones
'Bout what is and what isn't meant to be
Some things you live with
But you never let it show
Like the pain I felt
The day I watched you leave

But I hope you'll think of me
When tender winds blow
Sit on the shores of love
And just let it go

(Chorus)

Copyright © 1997 Age to Age Music, Inc./Warner Chappell. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

(Michelle Lewis, Dan DeVilliers & Sean Hosein)

When every moment gets too hard
End of the road can feel so far
No matter how much time we're apart
I'm always near you

I'll be the shelter in your rain
Help you find your smile again
I'll make you laugh at a broken heart
Wherever you are

'Cause I'm never gonna walk away
If the wall comes down someday
All alone and you feel afraid
Be there when you call my name
You can always depend on me
I believe until forever ends
I will be your friend

So many people come and go
But nothing can change the you I know
You'll never be just a face in the crowd
And time will show

Through the seasons and years
I will always hold you dear
Never you fear

(Chorus)

I'll be your rock when every candle burns down low
And I want you to know

(Chorus)

(Final Chorus)

Copyright © 1997 Age to Age Music, Inc./Warner Chappell. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

(William Owsley, Tommy Sims & Amy Grant)

I took a drive along the west bank of the shore
I thought of what you said then I thought some more
You say your life is all but chiseled out in stone
And all you want is just a taste of the unknown

Think it was yesterday I called you on the phone
You say you need a change, I recognize the tone
Buy me a ticket please, to anywhere I'll go
I'm not saying what is right or what is wrong
I'm just thinking you've been hanging here too long

So, why don't we, just up and leave it all behind
Maybe a change would ease your mind
For a time, leave it all behind

What I really want to do is see you smile
Hear you talk and let me listen for a while
There's too much going on to keep it all inside
You try to whisper, but you start to scream and shout
What you need is just a place to let it out

(Chorus)

You try to whisper but you start to scream and shout
What you need is just a place to let it out

(Final Chorus)

Copyright © 1997 Age to Age Music, Inc./Warner Chappell. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

(Keith Thomas, Amy Grant & Beverly Darnell)

We are all the same it seems
Behind the eyes
Broken promises and dreams
Our good disguise

All we're really looking for is some place
Safe and warm
The shelter of each other in the storm
Maybe one day
We can turn and face our fears
Maybe one day
We can reach out through the tears
After all it's really not that far
To where hope can be found
Maybe one day
We can turn this world around

Who can trace the path of time
Not you or me
The twisting road we call our lives
We cannot see
The hunger and the longing everyone of us
Knows inside
Could be the bridge between us if we try

(Chorus)

Maybe one day
We can turn and face our fears
Maybe one day
We can reach out through the tears

Copyright © 1997 Age to Age Music, Inc./Warner Chappell. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

Amy Grant

Amy Lee Grant was born in Augusta, Georgia on November 25, 1960. She grew up in Nashville in a strong Christian home that instilled faith and family  values. Her father was a successful radiologist and came from a prestigious and wealthy Nashville family. His grandfather (and Amy's great-grandfather), A.M. Burton, was actually considered the founding father of the modern city of Nashville.

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He started a successful insurance company and gave millions of dollars to charitable, religious institutions.

Amy was the youngest of four girls, the baby of the family. The Grants claim that even as a very young child, Amy was entertaining them with songs and dances. Her family nurtured their daughter's creative talents and encouraged her to use the gifts God had given her. The Grant's attended church services every Sunday afternoon, every Sunday night and every Wednesday evening. Amy learned to sight-read music at church and sang with the choir. She tried piano lessons, but was quickly bored by them.

When Amy turned 12, she made two decisions that would change her life and have impacted her music to this day. She made a commitment to the Church of Christ and volunteered for baptism. She also decided to learn to play the guitar. By the time she was 15, she had written her first song, Brand New Start.

It was through her songs that Amy first began to share her faith with others. She spent hours writing and practicing while attending Harpeth Hall, an all-girls school in Nashville. It was at a school prayer service that she had her first "real performance." She sang songs written from her heart, and when she opened her eyes and saw girls crying, she realized that God had given her a way to share His love with other people. As she continued to play her music at these prayer meetings, girls began to share their hearts with Amy and she found her way to talk to others about God.

Amy's first real "break" came while making a devotional tape for her parents. A young producer named Chris Christian happened to overhear the tape and was so touched by it that he called his record company in Texas and played it over the phone for them. They signed her immediately. Her first album, Amy Grant, sold 50,000 copies--a huge success by gospel music standards.

Amy's second album, My Father's Eyes won a Dove Award for the title song "Father's Eyes," written by Gary Chapman. It would mark her first real success and would make a name for her in the gospel music industry.

Her third album, Age to Age, was the first album nominated for a Grammy. Thinking she did not have a chance of winning, her managers booked Amy into a concert in Memphis the night of the awards. In the middle of the concert, Amy got the news that she had won and immediately shared the news with her fans. Age to Age also won a Dove Award for Best Gospel Album of the year.

As Amy's career continued to grow, her family became more involved. They packaged records and videos, and her brother-in-law became her first business manager. The family grew by one when she married Gary Chapman, her guitarist and writer, on June 19, 1982.

Three years later, her ninth album, Unguarded went gold. It won a Dove award for Gospel Album of the Year and the Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance--Female. The single, "Find a Way," made the Top Forty on the Billboard charts--building the bridge for Amy between Christian gospel and pop music. It would be the first step in a new direction her career was about to take--but certainly not the last or the biggest. "Next Time I Fall" came two years later. The duet with Peter Cetera went to Number One on all the pop charts. It was a huge success and marked her first Grammy nomination in a non-gospel category.

That year also brought another blessing with the birth of Amy and Gary's first child, Matthew Garrison Chapman on September 25, 1987.

Released two years later, Lead Me Onshipped gold and received a Grammy nomination in the Best Gospe category--Amy was awarded her fifth Grammy. It was while working on this album that Amy gave birth to her second child, Gloria Mills Chapman, called Millie after Amy's beloved great-grandma.

The release of Heart In Motion proved again that Amy Grant was continually striving to reach higher goals. In 1991, "Baby, Baby" a song inspired by her daughter Millie, topped both the Billboard andR&R charts simultaneously. Heart in Motion received four Grammy nominations including Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Top Performance by a Female and Album of the Year in 1992. This same year, on October 11th, Amy's third child, Sarah Cannon Chapman was born.

House of Love, was released in 1994. The album included a duet with Vince Gill ("House of Love") and "Children of the World," a song about God's love for little ones and the obligation we all have to make the world a better place for them. It is a song that spoke of Amy Grant's own convictions to support and encourage others in any way she can.

Amy participates in Nashville's Leadership Music Program and meets with terminally ill children as part of the "Make a Wish" Foundation. She has hosted benefits for the *American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and most recently has worked with Habitat for Humanity. In 1992, Amy was named Young Tennessean of the Year by the Nashville Chamber of Commerce. She has also been honored with the Pax Christi Award, The Peace of Christ Award, marking only the third time a woman has ever received this award since its inception in 1963.

Amy's most recent project has been the long awaited new album, Behind the Eyes.

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Born: November 25, 1960 in Augusta, GA
Siblings: 3 older sisters
Married: to Gary Chapman, June 19, 1982
Kids: Matthew Garrison Chapman 9/25/87, Gloria Mills (Millie), Chapman 12/16/89, Sarah Cannon Chapman 10/11/92
Wrote her first song: 15 years old
Number of albums (including new maxi-single): 15
Longest tour: Unguarded (June 1984 - September 1, 1986)
First car she learned to drive on: Green '63 VW Bug
College: Furman University in SC and Vanderbilt University in TN
Favorite Food: Spaghetti
Favorite pastime: Gardening and cleaning
6^th grade music love: Cher
7^th grade music love: Carole King
8^th grade music love: Bette Midler
Favorite sports to play: Skiing, golf
Favorite Bible verse: Hebrews 10:23
Favorite Prayer: Psalm 139
Favorite childhood book: Charlotte's Web

*All photographs provided by Myrrh Records. Used by permission (p) 1997. Unauthorized useage of these photos is prohibited by law.