Blast from the Recent Past 6: I’ll Remember

I heard this for the first time when I saw WITH HONORS, which I think is one of the best and most mem­o­rable movies I’ve ever seen. I love the story, and Moira Kel­ley of course. Hehe.

The movie is per­fect for the song and vice versa. It opened up to me the world of Walt Whit­man (“You shall no longer take things at sec­ond or third hand, not look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spec­tres in books. You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me, you shall lis­ten to all sides and fil­ter them from your­self.”), and it has one of the most dra­mat­i­cally sub­tle death scene in a movie. And who could for­get the obit­u­ary of Joe Pesci’s char­ac­ter Simon Wilder?

“He saw the world out of the port­hole of a leaky freighter, was a col­lec­tor of mem­o­ries, and inter­rupted a lec­ture at Har­vard. In 50 years on earth he did only one thing he regret­ted. He is sur­vived by his fam­ily: Jeff Hawks, who always remem­bers to flush; Everett Cal­loway, who knows how to use words; Court­ney Blu­men­thal, who is strong, and also knows how to love; and by Mont­gomery Kessler, who will grad­u­ate life with honor, and with­out regret.”

For all the times we’ve had peo­ple annoy us in the begin­ning and change our lives in the end; for all the times we’ve had to lean on peo­ple for help; for all the peo­ple who have men­tored us in one way or another; for the gift of hope and the gift of love great peo­ple have show­ered upon us; dur­ing the times we can stand on our own and don’t need them any­more, I hope we remain grate­ful, and I hope we all remember.

I’ll Remem­ber
Madonna

Mmmm, mmmm
Say good-bye to not know­ing when
The truth in my whole life began
Say good-bye to not know­ing how to cry
You taught me that

Cho­rus
And I’ll remem­ber the strength that you gave me
Now that I’m stand­ing on my own
I’ll remem­ber the way that you saved me
I’ll remember

Inside I was a child
That could not mend a bro­ken wing
Out­side I looked for a way
To teach my heart to sing

And I’ll remem­ber the love that you gave me
Now that I’m stand­ing on my own
I’ll remem­ber the way that you changed me
I’ll remember

I learned
to let go
of the illu­sion that we can pos­sess
I learned
to let go
I travel in still­ness
And I’ll remem­ber
hap­pi­ness
I’ll remem­ber [I’ll remem­ber]
Mmmmm… [I’ll remem­ber]
Mmmmm…

And I’ll remem­ber the love that you gave me
Now that I’m stand­ing on my own
I’ll remem­ber the way that you changed me
I’ll remember

No I’ve never been afraid to cry
AND I finally have a rea­son why
I’ll remem­ber [I’ll remem­ber]
No I’ve never been afraid to cry
And I finally have a rea­son why
I’ll remem­ber [I’ll remem­ber]
No I’ve never been afraid to cry
And I finally have a rea­son why
I’ll remem­ber [I’ll remember]