Amazing Music Video: “Concrete Angel” – Martina McBride

By, Donna M. Monnig

I came across the music video for Martina McBride’s hit song from 2001, “Concrete Angel”, and immediately fell in love. The song itself has always captivated my heart; the sad lyrics weaving the tragic picture of a young girl’s struggle to live life in the midst of abuse and neglect.

The song tugs at the heart-strings from the opening lines:

“She walks to school with the lunch she packed
Nobody knows what she’s holdin’ back
Wearin’ the same dress she wore yesterday
She hides the bruises with linen and lace” 

Picturing this innocent little girl all alone and unloved in the world is made even more disconcerting when you think about all of the other children in the world who are victims of child abuse.

“Somebody cries in the middle of the night
The neighbors hear, but they turn out the lights
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate
When morning comes it’ll be too late”

As powerful as the song is, it is even more so when coupled with the magnificent music video to accompany it. Click the picture below to view the official music video.

I discovered some interesting information when I begin looking into this song. For instance, the title of this song was engraved on the headstone of Judith Eva Barsi in 2004.

-picture from Wikipedia

Judith Eva Barsi, a child actress and victim of child abuse, was killed by her father in 1988 at the tender age of ten. Among her numerous acting credits, she is probably most noted for her performance as the voice of Ducky in the 1988 film, The Land Before Time. Ducky’s catch phrase, “Yep! Yep! Yep!”, is also engraved on young Barsi’s headstone.

The chorus of “Concrete Angel” is every bit as powerful as the rest of the song, and one can only imagine that it fit young Barsi well along with so many other unknown children:

“Through the wind and the rain
She stands hard as a stone
In a world that she can’t rise above
But her dreams give her wings
And she flies to a place where she’s loved
Concrete angel”

The world is full of concrete angels… and God loves and protects them all.

Yep! Yep! Yep!

“The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.” –Seneca

–Picture by Donna M. Monnig

“Strength is born in the deep silence of long-suffering hearts; not amidst joy.” –Felicia Hemans

{REMINDER: Don’t forget that by commenting on this post you will be entered into the drawing to win a free copy of Echoes of Time: A Collection of Rhyme. Click here for full details.}

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