The song can bring tears to your eyes while watching the video. Zevon recorded this when he knew he was dying and it is a touching song. The song was off of the album The Wind which peaked #12 in the Billboard 200 album charts in 2003.
This was the final song Zevon wrote and recorded before dying of mesothelioma (a form of lung cancer) in September of 2003. This was also the only song on Zevon’s final album The Wind that he wrote entirely after learning of his terminal illness. With the exception of the cover of “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” all of the remaining songs on the album were songs Zevon had already at least started writing beforehand.
Zevon saved the recording of this song for last. His deteriorating health rendered him too weak to continue commuting to the studio where the other tracks had been recorded, so he had a makeshift studio set up at his home to record this song.
Keep Me In Your Heart
Shadows are fallin’ and I’m runnin’ out of breath
Keep me in your heart for a while
If I leave you it doesn’t mean I love you any less
Keep me in your heart for a while
When you get up in the mornin’ and you see that crazy sun
Keep me in your heart for a while
There’s a train leavin’ nightly called “When All is Said and Done”
Keep me in your heart for a while
Keep me in your heart for a while
Keep me in your heart for a while
Sometimes when you’re doin’ simple things around the house
Maybe you’ll think of me and smile
You know I’m tied to you like the buttons on your blouse
Keep me in your heart for a while
Hold me in your thoughts
Take me to your dreams
Touch me as I fall into view
When the winter comes
Keep the fires lit
And I will be right next to you
Engine driver’s headed north up to Pleasant Stream
Keep me in your heart for a while
These wheels keep turnin’ but they’re runnin’ out of steam
Keep me in your heart for a while
Keep me in your heart for a while
Keep me in your heart for a while
Keep me in your heart for a while
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Nice post – love Warren Zevon.
I miss Warren.
That’s what I needed, a big fat cry on a Saturday morning. It’s hard to fathom he’s been gone over 15 years. Time speeds up as we get older, no doubt.
Thanks for this, even though I’m still bawling!
I’m sorry! Wow I can’t believe it’s been 15 years… I know it still gets to me everytime I hear/watch it.
Great song but so sad. A great talent gone too soon
Yes it is….it hits me everytime I watch it
“Enjoy Every Sandwich” as he once said.
so sorry to hear he passed on. just getting to know his music. sad song and yes watching the video was a tearful experience
As I listened to this song, it just sounded mellow, but after reading what you wrote, it became a tear jerker.
It gets to me everytime I watch the video or listen to the song.
I am ashamed to admit this is the first time I have heard this. I always liked him and remember Letterman doing something with him. I knew he had lung cancer, and had heard a few cuts from the album, but never this one. Pretty powerful in context!
No shame… it didn’t chart at all… it makes it that deeper of a song. It gets me when I see the video.
Damn. I knew he had cancer but, mesothelioma? Where the hell was he that he was exposed to asbestos?
He said he was afraid of going to the doctor and hadn’t been for years… you have a point… I don’t know
VERY sad, esp. with all the lawsuits. I hope his family sued. Mesothelioma is not a result of disease. It is exposure to industrial waste particulates. Unbelievable.
Just terrible. I just looked it up and they think it was when he was a kid and played in his dad or uncles attic in their store…it had asbestos there.
https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/lawsuit-news/339903-asbestos-cancer-caused-death-of-musician-warren-zevon/
God almighty. Yeah. That s*** was used as a fire/flame retardant.
Just imagine how much was in the Twin Towers.
I remember it was at our high school and the first year that I was about to start there they took it out thank goodness. We didn’t start until the middle of September…
Oh yes they were built in the 70s right? It would have been full and when it came down…it probably went everywhere
1973. Everyone breathing at ground zero will have it. Everyone breathing a half mile away will have it. And, NYC isn’t going to do a study or track down statistics. Announcing that would only further enrage people and start a new round of lawsuits.
https://www.wtcvictimfund.com/the-fund/
Yea we will hear about it for years probably…That is terrible.
🙁
I love this song.
NCIS, a guilty pleasure of mine, plays songs in their episodes. I was completely blown away with the episode that ended with this song.
I said it in another comment but it bears repeating. When I die, I do not want a ceremony or celebration of my life or whatever. Years ago I arranged to be cremated (and was amazed to hear my wife say she wanted the same.) I want to be remembered. I want those I love and those that love me to keep me in their hearts for a while.
That may sound morbid but it is not.
No it’s not morbid at all. This song really gets to me because of why he wrote it and when he recorded it.
I’ve told my wife I want two songs played… In My Life…Beatles and All Things Must Pass by George.