The Things You’ve left behind

Jamie Cullum live at Music Matters 2009. In an interview with Ralph Simon Jamie talks about collaborating with Clint Eastwood on the Grammy nominated Gran Torino title/theme song, finishing up with a unique live performance.

Gran Torino

Realign all the stars above my head
Warning signs travel far
I drink instead
On my own
Oh, how I’ve known
The battle scars and worn out beds

[Chorus]
Gentle now a tender breeze blows
Whispers through a Gran Torino
Whistling another tired song
Engines hum and bitter dreams grow
Heart locked in a Gran Torino
It beats a lonely rhythm all night long

[Post-Chorus]
These streets are old
They shine with the things I’ve known
And breaks through the trees
Their sparkling
Your world is nothing more than all the tiny things
You’ve left behind

[Verse 2]
So tenderly your story is nothing more than what you see
Or what you’ve done
Or will become
Standing strong
Do you belong
In your skin
Just wondering

[Chorus]
Gentle now a tender breeze blows
Whispers through a Gran Torino
Whistling another tired song
Engines hum and bitter dreams grow
Heart locked in a Gran Torino
It beats a lonely rhythm all night long

[Post-Chorus]
May I be so bold and stay
I need someone to hold
That shudders my skin
Their sparkling
Your world is nothing more than all the tiny things
You’ve left behind

[Verse 3]
So, realign all the stars above my head
Warning signs travel far
I drink instead
On my own
Oh, how I’ve known
The battle scars and worn out beds

[Chorus]
Gentle now a tender breeze blows
Whispers through a Gran Torino
Whistling another tired song
Engines hum and bitter dreams grow
Heart locked in a Gran Torino
It beats a lonely rhythm all night long

[Outro]
It beats a lonely rhythm all night long
It beats a lonely rhythm all night long

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Clint Eastwood / Kyle C. Eastwood / Michael C. Stevens / James Cullum

Gran Torino (Original Theme Song From The Motion Picture) lyrics © Wallet Music, Cibie Music, Upward And Onward, Robie Springs Music, Emi Music Publishing Ltd, Warner Olive Music Llc., Warner-barham Music Llc.

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It is a plaintive melody (devised by Clint Eastwood), with lamenting lyrics of a song for a movie about the sunset of a person’s life. This line stuck out to me:

Your world is nothing more than all the tiny things
You’ve left behind

We have known the battle scars and worn out beds; we have a sense of the many tiny things we leave behind that may become the errant, improbable substance of the world we leave in the hands of the people we have known and loved.

But for now we know this much is true:

May I be so bold and stay
I need someone to hold…