“Mary Beth, when you hear that song, I mean, does it ever get old?” CCU President Eric Hogue asked during the conversation after Steven Curtis Chapman’s performance.
Mary Beth answered that it never does, although she said, “I’ll tell on myself.” Acknowledging that she can be “feisty,” she said there were difficult times in the past when her husband was away traveling for his career and she was home raising three children. Chapman would call home from across the world, and she would say, “Did you sing that ‘I Will Be Here’ song? Because you’re not here.”
“But it doesn’t—it doesn’t get old,” she added.
During the sit-down conversation, Chapman played his new love song for his wife, a song he said “just came out today” and which he intentionally released close to Valentine’s Day. Before he played it for Mary Beth in front of hundreds of people, she commented, “I feel weird sitting right here.”
Chapman told the audience the song was a gift for his wife’s birthday. “She had a really big birthday, like a really big birthday,” he said.
Chapman played the song for Mary Beth on her birthday, and when she said, “I’d love to have a recording of this,” he “recorded it and released it.” Chapman also told the audience he got Mary Beth’s permission to perform the song, noting, “I tell the truth in this song.”
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“So I got her permission to do this because I do tell the truth, and the good—mostly all good. It’s all good,” he clarified, getting flustered and saying, “OK, I’m going to sing now,” as the audience laughed.
The lyrics read in part:
She’s hot, then she’s cold
She’s afraid, and she’s bold
Most times a lot bolder than me
She’s wrong, and she’s right
Well, mostly she’s right
About just about everything
She’s beautiful, even though she’ll never see it
A warrior, a mother, a lover, and a wife
The girl of my dreams
And the best part of me
Forever the love of my life
Chapman forgot the words at one point as he played the “brand new” song but quickly recovered. After he finished, he commented to his wife, “That probably was a little tough sitting right there that close to me singing the song.”
