It’s one of the most ubiquitous experiences of adulthood: realizing your parents’ mortality.
Singer-songwriter James Blunt just released a poignant music video paying tribute to his aging father.
For the first two and a half minutes of the video, the camera is pointed at Blunt as he sings — getting increasingly emotional as the song goes on.
"I'm not your son, you're not my father / We're just two grown men saying goodbye / No need to forgive, no need to forget / I know your mistakes and you know mine," the lyrics go. "And while you're sleeping, I'll try to make you proud / So daddy, won't you just close your eyes? / Don't be afraid, it's my turn / To chase the monsters away."
As the ballad reaches the bridge, the camera cuts to a wide shot showing his real-life father, Col. Charles Blount, who is in need of a kidney, as Blunt revealed in a TV appearance last year.
The song concludes with the two sitting side by side as Blunt sings.
“My father is not very well actually, he needs a new kidney,” Blunt said in an appearance on "Good Morning Britain" last year, before adding he is not a match for his father’s O-positive blood type. “Really that has been an amazing moment. Because when you realize your father's mortality it's a great opportunity to say the things I'd like to say to him.”
On social media the last few days, Blunt has been posting about the music video and thanking fans for their kind messages.
“Monsters is a eulogy to my father – except he’s still alive and kicking. But he’s not been well — his kidneys are functioning at just 11%,” Blunt posted. “And with that realisation, I needed to tell him that, to me, he’s more than just a father. He’s my friend too, and that I love him.”
Blunt told The Sun all the royalties from the song will go to charities Help for Heroes and the British Legion. Blunt himself is a former British Army officer and his father was a colonel of the Army Air Corps, according to several U.K. outlets.
