“The trick is growing up without growing old.” Casey Stengel
At the end of March, the new Burt Reynolds movie came out “The Last Movie Star.” We just watched it a couple of days ago when it came out on DVD. I have never been a Burt Reynold’s fan nor paid any attention to his past movies, but he nailed it on this one. What really sold the movie was the soundtrack “To Get Here” by willie Nelson.
Reynolds’ plays an aging movie star (go figure). Unable to confront his fading fame, his character goes soul-searching through Tennessee. Ariel Winter plays a young woman hired to be his driver, and Chevy Chase also makes a brief appearance.
Willie Nelson and fellow heavy hitting writer Diane Warren teamed up to write the song after viewing the movie. Diane Warren wrote some huge ballads and pop hits, including “How Do I Live” for LeAnn Rimes, “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” for Aerosmith and “If I Could Turn Back Time” for Cher.
The track follows Nelson through all his regrets and mistakes. But ultimately, he says in the song he couldn’t and wouldn’t redo his errors. Because they’re what it took “to get here.”
With Nelson’s understated vocal and off-beat delivery, the song still feels folksy. “There are things I’ve done I wish I could undo,” Nelson sings. “I’d take back all the pain I put the ones that loved me through.” Just reading those lyrics, it seems like a mouthful.“All the mistakes I made, I’m glad I made them,” he sings in the chorus. “All the wrong turns I took, I had to take them. Can’t look back with regret, cause the view is never clear. That’s what it took to get here.”
Another line in the song is “hindsight is 20/20.” I am sure that resonates with anyone who takes the time to look at their past. Regardless of your age, there is time to start making amends and changes for the future, granted, it takes a lot more effort when your older and have had enough years to really mess up your life, but it is never too late as long as you are still breathing. That is the beauty of grace and 2nd chances.