White Dress – Kenny Marks

This 1987 song White Dress induces tears in me more easily than any other song. There, I’ve said it. It’s the heartbreakingly beautiful story of a girl growing up in a single-parent household after her father leaves when she is still young.

Life is hard with just one parent and puts a strain on both the girl and her mother, and they wonder who to blame. Her mother tells her that the reason her father left was that he had fallen out of love with her, and that it had absolutely nothing to do with the girl. Eventually, the girl grows into a young woman, goes to the prom and, years later, has a family of her own. It’s here that the song gets even more moving.

I don’t want to give anything more away, so you’ll just have to listen to it yourself. The lyrics and story are captivating and well deserving anyone’s attention. By the end, I always find myself an emotional wreck, even now, despite hearing it for the umpteenth time over the years.

Such is its effect that sometimes, when it comes on my player and I’m not in the right mood to cope with it, I might skip it since it hits just so close to home.

The late American Christian singer wrote other songs about separation and kids dealing with it. In The Next Time You See Johnny, which also featured here, he tells the story from the perspective of a young boy whose father has also left, and he prays, “Could You bring back my daddy? / I know that You’ll find a way.” It contains one of the finest guitar passages I’ve ever heard, wrapping up a song.

It’s heavy subject matter, but Kenny treats it with the respect and sensitivity it deserves while also highlighting the impact of family breakdown on the young and innocent. It’s a subject rarely touched on in modern contemporary music.

If only one person has been so touched and made to think twice while listening to this before making a decision that leads to an unwanted pregnancy, as explored in The Party’s Over – Marks’ prequel to the above Johnny song – or before a man or woman walks away from their family, then it has served its purpose.

I became familiar with the Christian singer Kenny Marks when a friend of mine ‘Eric’ lent me his cassette tapes in school. In no time I consumed a lot of Kenny’s music and even bought his greatest hits collection years later called ‘Absolutely Positively‘. All of his songs had very strong and uplifting messages.

Kenny comes from the Evangelical and Charismatic branches of the Christian tree, having played for fellowship groups and at Billy Graham events. Although his name may not be known to a younger generation of Christian music aficionados, at his height in the ’80s and ’90s he was a true Contemporary Christian Music star, with a string of US Christian radio hits.

His songs might be considered too sanguine, sentimental and ‘rote by numbers’ by modern tastes and a cynical world, but I won’t shy away from them since they impacted and informed me at such an impressionable age. They haven’t worn on these listening ears despite how long I’ve been hearing them.

As always, thanks for reading and listening. Cheers folks.

She wore a white dress
And a rainbow ribbon in her hair
One candle burned on her birthday cake
Mom and dad are there
Wishing they could be like her
Without a care

She wore a pink dress
To her school on the very first day
Her mom and dad drove her there
And they cried as they drove away
Tears for her
But more tears for yesterday

She wore a blue dress
And rode her bike to the corner store
Daddy said now he’s leaving for good
And he slammed the door
No goodbyes
No more daddy anymore

Well, as she grew up
They grew apart
It’ll never be the same
Now they watched love go
With a heavy heart
And they wonder who’s to blame
“It’s not your fault that he went away
He went walking out the door
And it’s not your fault that he had to say
He didn’t love me anymore”

She wore a red dress
And her momma’s single strand of pearls
Dressed and ready for the senior prom
What a lovely girl
And her momma said:
“You’re a woman now and it’s time I said
This certain thing or two
Have the time of your life, and remember, dear
I’m so very proud of you”

Oh, it’s not your fault that he went away
There was nothing you could do
And please believe me when I say
There is nothing wrong with you

She wore a white dress
One candle burns as it did before
Her baby smiles at the sad old man
Standing at the door
And he said:
“I don’t know what I ever left here for”

“Well, I can’t stay long, but I want to say
A certain thing or two
Since I’ve been gone, my world’s been grey
The color stayed with you”
And before he left, he laid a gift
On baby’s little bed
Inside they found a rainbow dress
Of white, pink, blue and red
Of white, pink, blue and red

References:
1. Kenny Marks – Wikipedia