You guuuuuys. This is IT. My final passion blog post. I am actually super heartbroken about this because this was my favorite part of the whole class. I don’t care if Thursday nights were my “hermit days” because I literally spent hours reading poetry and listening to music. That is the most relaxing part about my week. So here it is. The final post. I tried to find a song or a poem that was thoughtful or sentimental, but I ended last semester with something like that and I couldn’t find anything else that I liked. I didn’t want to repeat poets because I’ve done that already, but I did repeat an artist and I have a very good reason why. I am absolutely thrilled for this blog post.
I’m going to be looking at “Life is Fine” by Langston Hughes and “Let the Walls Down” by Randell Milan.
“Life is Fine” was written and published by Langston Hughes in 1949.
Here’s the song in mp3 form: Let The Walls Down
Life is Fine
I went down to the river,
I set down on the bank.
I tried to think but couldn’t,
So I jumped in and sank.
I came up once and hollered!
I came up twice and cried!
If that water hadn’t a-been so cold
I might’ve sunk and died.
But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!
I took the elevator
Sixteen floors above the ground.
I thought about my baby
And thought I would jump down.
I stood there and I hollered!
I stood there and I cried!
If it hadn’t a-been so high
I might’ve jumped and died.
But it was High up there! It was high!
So since I’m still here livin’,
I guess I will live on.
I could’ve died for love–
But for livin’ I was born
Though you may hear me holler,
And you may see me cry–
I’ll be dogged, sweet baby,
If you gonna see me die.
Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!
This poem was one of the subtly angry poems I’ve ever read. This poem has this hint of despair in the beginning. The speaker starts off with thoughts of suicide saying “tried to jump but couldn’t,” “I jumped in and sank,” “I might’ve sunk and died,” “thought I would jump down,” and “I might have jumped and died.” The speaker is going through some kind of emotional trauma because of a break-up and wants to end it, but there are fragments of hope that linger since he does not do it. The first time he stopped himself, it is because the water is cold, which means he is still physically able to feel things; the second time, it is because he was high up, which means he is still able to fear things, too. He may be crying and screaming, but he knows he’s still alive. The fact that he is not physically or mentally numb is his will to live. There’s a difference between living and being alive and he knows he is capable of doing both. This becomes evident with the fifth stanza when he stops feeling so hurt and full of despair, and he begins to dwell on the inkling of hope that he is alive for some reason other than to be hurt as badly as he was by someone he loved. This then turns into an aggressive self-confidence in the very last stanza. He will allow for the person who has wronged him to see him suffer and cry, but he will not allow her to see that he has died because that would mean that she has won. She may have hurt him in the beginning, but the best revenge he can get is living his life better than he did when he was with her. Also, can we please talk about his rhyme scheme and his use of exclamation points? His rhyme scheme is ABCB, and has a line separating every two stanzas. This ABCB rhyme scheme doesn’t give it a bouncy tone; rather it makes it sound more like a sad story. I immediately thought of jazz and the blues when I read this. It’s in a minor key, if you will. But then you have those bursts of passion in between that allows him to proclaim how he feels. I don’t usually like poems that use exclamation points, but this one used it in such a way that the exclamation points were a contrasting point in between every two stanzas. The ways in which he was to commit suicide were more dramatic, but then as he moved in and became more emotional, it fit right in.
Okay, this song. There is a female singing along with Randell, WHAT. And also, it’s my first time using a duet. Here goes. In the beginning of the song, the very beginning of the song, I can see the speaker at the river. He jumps in but screams, and that’s when the male voice kicks in. He hollers and cries but he just can’t do it. He rages with pure frustration. He doesn’t know if he’s mad at himself or his ex-lover. He doesn’t know exactly what he feels. He leaves the river dejectedly and moves on. Then comes the bass rift in between vocalists, I can see him anxiously waiting for an elevator to take him to the top of his building. He had chosen this one because it was the tallest. Then the female vocalist kicks in and he’s on top of the building thinking about HER. He’s hurt and he’s angry. Along comes the male vocalist. I can see that the speaker is now hollering and crying again. He’s so high up. His chest tightens his eyes wide, and his mind races. He doesn’t know what he was about to do. He climbs off of the ledge and sprints down those stairs with that sudden moment of clarity. While the guitar solo plays, I can see the speaker going back to his place, throwing out every memory he has of her. He’s still crying and he’s still screaming but he’s not punishing himself for allowing himself to feel. He’s burning the love letters, tossing her clothes, and destroying every picture he has of her. Out of sight, out of mind. Once the vocalists kick in with that soft, and increasing, aggression, I can see the speaker actually picking himself up. He sees her on the street. She looks like she’s seen better times, but he’s moved on and he’s done feeling hurt and desperate. He’s free from her and life is fine.
Alright, alright, if you haven’t figured it out already, that was me singing with Randell. Shocker, I know. I was going to record a song specifically for this blog buuuut I got super sick, so I had to choose this one. Randell also wrote and played everything in this song; I just learned the lyrics and recorded with him. Anyway, I chose these two pieces because they do kind of have better endings. “Life is fine!” You guys, we are practically done with our freshman year of college! We’re pretty much the greatest people I know right now. Yes, we’ll have moments that try to break us, but the point is, there are better ways of dealing and just knowing that we are capable of feeling alive is the best feeling in the world! I’m sad that this is ending, but we’ve had great times. I hope I was able to bring you visual poetry and newer music. I hope that I inspired you to see the images that have been embedded in both music and in poetry. Most of all, I hope you enjoyed reading these. It’s been fun. *a la Tina Fey* Goodnight, and have a pleasant tomorrow.