the Sin, Saga & Salvation of

MCMLXXIX Album Cover

VIII - Prisoner

Prisoner - SOULO MCMLXXIX
🎤 Lead Vocals: Betheny Belinda
⏱️ 03:33
🎹 Piano: Shaun Soulo
💔 Memorial Ballad
In Loving Memory
This song is a tribute to Roxy (August 29, 1989 - December 11, 2019), a sensational vocalist and devoted mother who was taken by the cruel fate of drugs and depression at the age of 30. Her voice, though silenced, continues to resonate through this memorial performed by her sister Betheny Belinda.

The album's most devastating moment - a memorial that functions as both tribute and catharsis. Written by Shaun and performed by Betheny Belinda as a tribute to their sister Roxy, this sparse piano ballad confronts grief with unflinching honesty. The minimalist arrangement - just piano and voice - creates space for overwhelming emotion, while the lyrics explore survivor's guilt, unanswered questions, and the complex relationship between pain and wisdom.

Life worth something deep, and so demanding
Holding wholly unto my fear
Affairs form my humble understanding
Songs I will never hear
How the hell would I know the truth about Heaven?
I've never looked the other way
Peasanted to pain not committing
Hoping to feel like another day
Look what it did to me
Can't do it again
Lessons, infinitely
Prisoner, true to my pain.
Unsung Melodies
Perhaps the most heartbreaking line in the entire album. When performed by Betheny about Roxy, this becomes literally true - these are the songs Roxy will never sing, the music lost forever. It captures both the specific tragedy of a vocalist's death and the universal grief over all the unlived possibilities that die with our loved ones.
Survivor's Burden
"Peasanted to pain not committing" captures the guilt of survival - being reduced to mere servitude by grief while lacking the courage to follow into death. It's a brutally honest admission about the temptation of suicide when grieving, and the shame that comes with choosing to live while questioning that choice.
© 2024 Written and Produced by Shaun 'Soulo' Parsons