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Lead vocalist/keyboardist Dennis DeYoung, a devout Roman Catholic, originally wrote the song for his son Matthew as a pseudo-hymn about the struggle to keep the faith in a "world so filled with hatred".[1][2] Released in December 1990, the song was slowly scaling the charts. In January 1991, just prior to the United States' entry into the Gulf War, Music Director Chris Taylor from WAVA-FM in Washington, D.C. and Knoxville DJ Ray Edwards from WOKI-FM each did their own customized "Desert Shield Mix" incorporating television and call-in comments from officials, soldiers and callers as well as C-SPAN's coverage of the House and Senate debates.[2][3][4]
I remember this being played on the radio during Desert Storm but I haven't heard it since then.
Some kid taped this off the radio and brought it into school, the teacher made us listen to it in class. "I want my daddy to come home" had one girl in tears.
I never knew who Styx were and Michael W. Smith's "Show Me the Way" was also a top 10 smash that year, so for a very long time I assumed that he was also behind this and that this was a Christian song.
