Country Music Legend George Strait Releases Stirring Pro-Police Music Video
Country music’s George Strait marked First Responders Day on Thursday by releasing a powerful new music video in support of America’s embattled police.
“The men and women in this music video are our friends and neighbors who carry The Weight of the Badge each day. Thank you. We appreciate you and the sacrifices you and your families make,” Strait writes on his YouTube page.
The video kicks off with a clip of police officers raising the American flag outside of the New York State Police Academy.
“You have people that are going out and doing a job to defend their communities,” a police officer says in the video. … “One of them might not be going home.
“And we have seen, I’ve seen it throughout my career. I’ve seen it here locally, where a police officer didn’t go home. They kissed their loved ones goodbye, and that was the last time they saw ’em.
“And sometimes, I don’t think we realize the impact that this job has had on our families, let alone ourselves. That’s a heavy weight. That’s the heavy weight of the badge,” the officer says as the music begins to play.
The video of “The Weight of the Badge” features a cross-section of first responders interspersed with comments from them and their family members.
In one part, a woman talks about a loved one.
“Every time he goes, I’m always like, ‘Call me or text me when you leave,’ because I just want to make sure he’s OK, because I know that it’s a possibility that he may not be some time,” she says. “That’s the biggest weight.
“And I feel a lot of times when he leaves, and I give him a hug and a kiss goodbye, I always hold on to him for an extra couple of seconds, just because.”
The song’s chorus goes, “He swore that oath to protect and serve / Pours his heart and soul into both those words / Lays his life on the line / And the line he walks is razor-fine / Tempered strength is always tough / But he ain’t gonna buckle under the weight of the badge.”
The song begins with Strait singing, “It’s gonna be a long one, another graveyard shift / As he says goodbye to his wife and kids / He spends his life just like his dad’s / Driving away under the weight of the badge.”
One verse of the song goes, “Not that long ago he woke up in the hospital / With his wife and kids praying by his bed / He said: I’m gonna be alright / There’s just sometimes you gotta fight.”
Strait also will launch TheWeightOfTheBadge.com, a site to share stories about first responders.
“It’s a sense of service, really,” one police officer says in the video.
“That weight is a sense of service to the people. I’m very, very hopeful, and I’m an optimist. I think most of us are optimists in this job, because really we want to do what’s right and what’s good for the people.”
When police stumble and fall, the officer says, “Just dust yourself off and you keep moving, ‘cuz that’s what life’s about, isn’t it?”
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