Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Tears and Rain

I enjoy James Blunt's music very much. I recently (March 2008) went back to iTunes to look for songs by him I didn't own yet, and decided to try out "Tears and Rain" from his first album, "Back to Bedlam." This isn't my favorite song, but it raises the hairs on the back of my neck.

I had posted here a video I'd found on YouTube, but it has since been marked private, so I can't share it with everyone now. So instead I'll share some brief reflections on the music and meaning I find in this song.

I love how the song opens with gentle acoustic guitar strumming. James' voice has a lovely, expressive quality. In this song he uses a tone that is very sorrowful, like weeping. How perfectly he sings this melancholy tune!

My favorite line is "How I wish I could walk through the door to my mind; / Hold memory close at hand, / Help me to understand the years." Memory and imagination are a great gift for turning over experience and learning from what has come before. How tempting it can be to feel like one could live there, inside an idea, inside an instant from the past! Perhaps it is well that we can't literally step through this door.

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