LISTEN: Eric Church’s ‘Through My Ray Bans’ Tributes Victims of Route 91
Eric Church released a new song called “Through My Ray Bans” that he dedicated to the fans he played for at Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival. The festival was the scene of a mass shooting in 2017 where 60 people were killed, making the incident the deadliest mass shooting by an individual in U.S. history.
“I looked out there, at that crowd, in that place … I was so moved by it,” Eric said onstage at the Grand Ole Opry just days later. “I saw them with their hands in the air. I saw them with boots in the air. And what I saw, that moment in time was frozen.”
That moment of camaraderie and passion that was preserved in Church’s memory now comes to life in the chorus of “Through My Ray Bans”: “Everybody’s got their arms around everybody else’s shoulders / Guarding against the world outside like an army of Friday night soldiers / The battle wages tomorrow but tonight you don’t give a damn / Wish you could stay the way I see you through my Ray-Bans.”
The song also takes on new meaning as live shows have come to a halt. Church shared an initial sneak peek of “Through My Ray-Bans” earlier this year, as he offered a defiant spoken-word performance which proclaimed “I don’t believe in fear. I don’t believe in panic. I don’t believe, in all of its complexity, this damn virus has any idea what it’s up against: the American resolve, steeled by the world, steadied by faith, calmed by song, healed by prayer. Oh I believe; damn right I believe. I believe these halls will roar again. These stadiums will be deafening in the answer to this enemy. The silence of now will cower at the noise of soon … And I believe, I believe our best is yet to come. We shall rage. We shall roar. I cannot wait to see you again, through my Ray-Bans.”
Eric Church
