James Blunt: A Tale of Two Videos

Although James Blunt hit the big time with his hit, “You’re Beautiful,” I had never paid much attention to him until he guest starred in the “Las Vegas” finale singing “Same Mistake.” It was a haunting song and I went to YouTube to watch the video which I found somewhat uninteresting. But I wouldn’t find out until later that some military-themed lyrics were omitted from the video.

I then clicked on another video of Blunt singing, “Carry You Home” and was very moved by the video’s sad story that explained the song. The words, “I’m watching you breathing for the last time,” are spoken by a soldier watching his friend die in combat and removing something from the dead man’s pocket which he then delivers to a grieving loved one near the White Cliffs of Dover. “A song for your heart, and when it is quiet I know what it means and I’ll carry you home, carry you home.”

I must have played that video over and over and I went to another site and read what people thought the song meant and was amazed how few couldn’t figure it out and obviously hadn’t yet seen the music video. Being the obsessive that I am I hunted down Blunt’s background and discovered that he had been a captain in the British army and had been among the first to arrive in Kosovo’s capitol. It’s highly likely that he wrote about what he had dealt with personally in that conflict.

As a Mother’s Day gift, my daughter bought me a Blunt CD, “All the Lost Souls,” and for the first time I heard the full lyrics to “Same Mistake,” the video that I had watched earlier on YouTube. Far from being a song about lost love and poor choices, it also has an anguished military connection that for whatever reason was omitted from what YouTube’s lists as the official video.

And so I sent some men to fight,

And one came back at dead of night,

Said “Have you seen my enemy?”

Said “he looked just like me”

So I set out to cut myself

And here I go

The rest of the song clearly is about regret of the choices he made that he had no control over and how difficult it is to live with them.

And maybe someday we will meet

And maybe talk and not just speak

Don’t buy the promises ’cause

There are no promises I keep,

And my reflection troubles me

So here I go

This is about meeting up with the enemy that looks just like him yet in the video it seems he’s reflecting about a lost love.

I don’t know who decides what goes into a video and I wonder which video was made first as both songs are from the same album. I am just awed at the human ability to create beauty out of such tragedy and I wonder if the soldiers back from Iraq and Afghanistan will be able to transform their awful experiences into glorious melodies like James Blunt did.

Very interesting man

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