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melody311
Student
High School - 11th Grade

Explain how the song "Grand Torino" lends insight into the central theme of the movie Grand Torino...

Explain how the song "Grand Torino" lends insight into the central theme of the movie Grand Torino in an emotionally moving way, enabling the listener to connect with what Kowalski is feeling and thinking.

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Posted by melody311 on Sunday September 27, 2009 at 9:40 AM and tagged with gran torino, reference.

Answers:

  1. bullgatortail
    bullgatortail Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    The ageless Clint Eastwood has come up with another winner in his most recent starring vehicle Gran Torino, which he also directed. The lyrics to the title song, written by Jamie Cullen, do lend some insight into Eastwood's bitter character Kowalski. The first verse asks the question "Do you belong / In your skin?" It is a "tired song" and "beats / A lonely rhythm / All night long." Kowalski must have asked himself if he still belonged in this world after the death of his beloved wife, and he spends most of his lonely life drinking beer on his porch deep into the night.

    I drink instead
    On my own
    Oh, how I've known
    The battle scars

    In addition to "lonely," "tired" is another recurring word in the lyrics that describe his "bitter dreams" and a "heart locked." Kowalksi knows that his life is now meaningless and eventually finds that it is also nearing its end:

    Your world
    Is nothing more
    Than all
    The tiny things
    You've left
    Behind

    He still has love to give, however, and he turns to helping his Asian neighbors against the badness he sees around him.

    May I be
    So bold and stay
    I need someone
    To hold

    In the end, Kowalksi decides to give his life to protect his new friends, and he sees the afterlife as a better place.

    Gentle now
    A tender breeze
    Blows
    Whispers through
    The Gran Torino
    Whistling another
    Tired song
    Engines humm
    And better dreams
    Grow
    Heart locked
    In a Gran Torino
    It beats
    A lonely rhythm
    All night long
    It beats
    A lonely rhythm
    All night long
    It beats
    A lonely rhythm
    All night long 

     

    Sources:
    http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/j/jamie_cullum/gran_tori...

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    Posted by bullgatortail on Tuesday October 13, 2009 at 2:14 PM