Tag: Poetry

Battle Symphony- The anthem of emotional support

Battle symphony serves as the best personal encouragement song for all of us fighting their own battles. It also highlights the importance of emotional support to people around us who need it the most and are unable to express themselves at such critical moments.

Linkin Park is one of the most loved music bands in the world. I will take this opportunity to highlight the importance of one of their songs called ‘Battle Symphony”. This is the song that deserves a personal and global attention. I will dive directly into the song:

I got a long way to go
And a long memory
I've been searching for an answer
Always just out of reach
Blood on the floor
Sirens repeat
I've been searching for the courage
To face my enemies
When they turn down the lights
I hear my battle symphony
All the world in front of me
If my armor breaks
I'll fuse it back together
Battle symphony
Please just don't give up on me
And my eyes are wide awake
For my battle symphony 
They say that I don't belong
Say that I should retreat
That I'm marching to the rhythm
Of a lonesome defeat
But the sound of your voice
Puts the pain in reverse
No surrender, no illusions
And for better or worse 
If I fall, get knocked down
Pick myself up off the ground
If I fall, get knocked down
Pick myself up off the ground
Songwriters: Bradford Philip Delson / Chester Bennington / David Farrell / Jonathan Ian Green / Joseph Hahn / Mike Shinoda / Robert G. Bourdon 
Battle Symphony lyrics Copyrights to Universal Music Publishing Group  

Here, our songwriter (writer hereon) is accepting the truth that whatever quest he has embarked upon, it is all about journey not the destination. ‘A long way to go’ signifies that our writer has accepted that the journey from here on will be full of challenges and hardships. He has his memory as a companion with him. ‘Long memory’ is called to highlight the experience, learnings he has gathered in this long journey. These experiences/ learnings have actually made him to accept the beauty of journey, process irrespective of the destination.

The ‘answer always JUST out of reach’ shows that the writer is closer to his moment of perfection, moment of achievement to finally satisfy him but that perfection always remains unachievable. ‘Blood on the floor’ and ‘repeating sirens’ show the severity of hardships, the severity of challenges, the extents of conflicts our writer is going through. The bloodshed mentioned here shows how the conflicts- inner or outer they may be, are going to turn out. Sirens are meant as a warning sign that are showing that this is a ‘NO GO’ zone, that our writer is attempting a thing that is not meant to be in his favor but still he has accepted to be in it.

‘Search for courage to face my enemies’- is such a powerful statement. It shows how our writer even at his worst is ready to deal with the situation. He is not demanding for this situation to end on its own, rather he wants the courage to face the situation by himself. The search for courage shows that he is really scared of the situation but he is not going to turn around now. He is beyond that ‘point of no return’. The enemies that our writer is mentioning here are the demons that he has created for himself, his inner conflicts. The quest for perfection explained already in the lines before and the inner demons mentioned here show that there is a huge difference between the worlds our writer had imagined and the reality he is going through. This drastic difference between reality and imagination has created those demons for our writer. These demons of conflicts are what blanking his senses, are making him indecisive/helpless, are making him to lose his potential, to under-perform. That is why he is saying that his enemies have turned down the lights, turning down the light shows that our writer has become directionless, he is unaware of his surroundings hence unable to decide what to do next, how to defend himself.

The battle symphony is the only thing which is like that ‘sixth sense’ for our writer to sustain through this long way. The literal meaning of symphony is the ‘a usually long musical composition for a full orchestra’. How could a battle have symphony? We have already heard about ‘battle cry’, ‘battle call’ or ‘war call’. Then why is our writer is calling it a battle symphony?  The use of symphony is very important for this song, the purpose of calling it a symphony and not a war call or battle cry is revealed in the next line as ‘all the world in front of me’. The writer calls all the world as his enemy because it is not matching the standards he has set in his mind. It is only the harmony- as in ‘symphony’ of his relationship with that one special person closer to him which is keeping him alive through this battle. That special person is the only thing that is empowering him to fight against the whole world.

Here, there can be different interpretations:

One can be that our writer is fighting his inner demons, his own mental condition- illness. The support of his loved ones is the only thing which is responsible for his survival in this battle with his inner conflicts.

Another interpretation can be that our writer has taken a decision against the regular customs of the world which made the whole world his enemy. It is only the support from his loved ones which is empowering him to endure through the hardships.

Even on multiple failures our writer is ready to accept the outcome, learn from them and get ready for next fight, hence fusing the armor comes next. He is just expecting for his loved ones to count on him, to believe in him to endure this fight. This fight is not just about winning and losing, it is about survival hence it has already been considered as a journey and not a destination. He is ensuring his loved ones, his support system that even if he may seem defeated but his eyes are wide awake. Here, eyes closed indicate death, acceptance of defeat in the battle. Our writer keeping his eyes wide awake shows that whatever will the outcome he will stand strong and keep on fighting through the battle.

The advice of people to retreat, that opinion of not belonging to the place are the metaphors of self-doubt, fear our writer is experiencing. This too has two interpretations- it may be the inner doubts or the real people mocking on his face. But, the march to the rhythm of lonesome defeat really shows the spirit and confidence with which our writer has accepted the outcomes of this battle. ‘Win or lose’- whatever the outcome will be, the decision to fight through it will remain the same.

The writer considers ‘the sound of voice’ of his loved ones which may be a person or people who truly believe in him as cure for his pain. The ‘sound of voice’ is actually implied as an encouragement by his loved ones which is reducing his pain, calming him down.

There is no turning back for our writer from here on in his battle with the world and with his inner conflicts. Only thing he demands is the support, the trust from his loved ones.

The song battle symphony is important in many ways. First of all, its main intention is to communicate the feelings that people are going through inner conflicts/experiences, but it is also helpful in other way around.  Every one of us is fighting his/her own battle in many ways – on different fronts; some people are strong enough to open up themselves to the others and some people choose to keep things to themselves. The second category of people are the ones this song highlights on. These are the people who are highly doubtful about themselves, they are highly aware of their surrounding and how people may make fun of them, how people will make them feel embarrassed. These types of people are highly susceptible to inner conflicts. These are the people who need good listeners, these are the people who need that unexpected support. Sometimes, they may not express it in words but if you find someone going through such hardships, please ensure that they are made aware that there is always somebody for helping them. One problem in this situation is that the people gong through such challenges are very hard to notice.  

I will share one anecdote from George Bernard Shaw with you:

A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, the one I feed the most.

-George Bernard Shaw

Whenever you find yourself or any of person in your surrounding having such conflicts, remember that every conflict whether it may be inner conflict with a conflict with others, it becomes easy when correct support, encouragement is provided. It my not solve the conflict for the person but it will definitely give him/her the courage to endure through that battle. This is applicable not only to a person but to the nations, groups, ethnicity, races, casts, cultures. It is just about what cause, what option you are supporting. That will decide the outcome. Being the only known self-aware species in the universe, it becomes a responsibility of us as humans to understand the real problems lying underneath, and resolving them to win-win situations. That will really indicate the proposition of calling ourselves ‘self-aware’. The one who becomes self-aware also becomes aware of how others experience the things- creating that bridge between him/her and others.  

Battle Symphony by Linkin Park

Everything at once

The anthem of innocence and ambition

Songs and long roads is the match made in heaven. This pair is like boat with a sail to reach to destinations of new experiences, discoveries and revelations. There is a reason why some very deep meaning songs from movies are shot while our protagonist(s) are traveling. I experienced such moment once while traveling by bus. The bus was obediently tracing the road lines. I had this playlist going between the ears to just to fill the void of mindlessness. The volume was on high, and the forceful background noise of the air whirling through the window wanted to become the part of song’s composition. Suddenly, I stumbled upon a song, and this song hit me in a different way. Though I had ‘heard’ the song many times, this time- I ‘listened’ to the song. It was like the song talked back to me; I understood the true meaning this song, that was a moment of revelation for me.

If you truly are a song listener (I mean who isn’t ?!), there are these moments in life where we actually, truly understand the lyrics and the real meaning behind the song- the real intention for the creation of the song. This is about a song called ‘Everything at once’ written and sung by Lenka. It is available on YouTube and was featured in Windows 8 commercials. Here goes the lyrics (generic lyrics copy/paste incoming, just for the sake of building a foundation for explanation) –

As sly as a fox, as strong as an ox
As fast as a hare, as brave as a bear
As free as a bird, as neat as a word
As quiet as a mouse, as big as a house

All I wanna be is everything once

As mean as a wolf, as sharp as a tooth
As deep as a bite, as dark as the night
As sweet as a song, as right as a wrong
As long as a road, as ugly as a toad

As pretty as a picture hanging from a fixture
Strong like a family, strong as I wanna be
Bright as day, as light as play
As hard as nails, as grand as a whale

All I wanna be is everything at once

As warm as the sun, as silly as fun
As cool as a tree, as scary as the sea
As hot as fire, cold as ice
Sweet as sugar and everything nice

As old as time, as straight as a line
As royal as a queen, as buzzed as a bee
As stealth as a tiger, smooth as a glider
Pure as a melody, pure as I wanna be

All I wanna be Is everything at once

-Written by Kripac Lenka Eden

At first, it seems like our songwriter has donned the costume of a child who just wants to become everything she fancies. She wants to be like fox, ox, hare, bear, bird, and a whole zoo simultaneously! The house and mouse seem like meant to be used as a rhyme to maintain the auditory meter of the verse. As the imagination allows, the songwriter wants to be everything. Starting from living things like mean wolf, ugly toad to the non-living and literally lifeless things like- picture hanging on the fixture, straight line, glider.

I think there is more to this song than just a simple sentence structure and rhymes. Every quality our songwriter wants to possess in the song is linked to the best example the nature, our surrounding can provide. What is anything else slyer than a fox could ever be? Sheer strength of an ox – a bull, fastness of a rabbit, the wildness, daring of a bear to face every opponent present in front with confidence- who could be a better representative than them?

In first two verse, we can see that the starting two lines reflect a negative, dark and gory expectations of the songwriter. These darker intentions suddenly follow the light-hearted and more positive aspirations she wants to follow. As in slyness, strength, swiftness, braveness, meanness, sharpness, depth of a bite, darkness- they indicate the hunger for power authority, control and maybe destructive, dominating intentions; but followed by these mentions things like – real freedom that only a bird can experience, structuredness of the word, quietness, acceptability, the ability to accommodate every necessity like a house, melody of a song- further clarify the intentions of the songwriter. It’s not just about good and bad, she wants to go beyond what is good and bad. That is the reason she feels no shame to become as ugly as Toad, become long and boring like a road.

Pretty picture hanging on fixture is a metaphor for the combination of that urge to demonstrate the unconventionality, beauty, masterpiece-ness through picture which just sits or hangs on the fixture which has no greater design intention- I mean fixture has only one purpose- it is there to hang/support the picture. This example is an important bridge between most of the routine, repeating, boring things and most of the extraordinary, unconventional, out of the box things in the life.

What an example of family to standardize the strength! The true relations are stronger than steel and mightier than gods. She doesn’t want any limitations to this strength. A day is fundamental definition of bright otherwise that would have been called night (!?) The lightness of play shows joy and spirit of playful moments in our life.

She brings mere small nail to show how hard she wants to become. Tiny yet hard, which never breaks to any impact or pressure. From this tininess she moves to the grandness of whale. I think this needs no further explanation.

Till we reach the last verse, it feels like the boundaries between positive and negative, good and bad are getting blurred. The irrelevant use of sun and fun, tree and sea, may seem some verbal adjustments done to complete the rhyme, but it indicates that, the songwriter doesn’t want to think what makes sense according to normal standards- she is just expressing whatever she desires, whatever she feels.

Warmth of the Sun shows parental, serious and caring nature she wants to have, and silliness will bring more flavor, joy a new dimension to this warmth. She wants to possess the openness, the role of provider from the tree.

The use of sea for the scary nature truly highlights the innocence and truthfulness of a child. What is a child afraid of? A child is generally afraid of darkness, harshness, roughness. What is an adult afraid of? An adult, a grown up is afraid of uncertainties, indecisiveness, tensions, indefiniteness, unpredictability. The sea stands as the great and unique example for fear of the unknown. People say that we have explored stars, galaxies in deep space but most depths of our oceans, seas are still unexplored, unknown. We as a human are not comfortable with everything that we are unfamiliar, unknown of. The songwriter or our child bears no shame in admitting that. Accepting what we fear has already created an opportunity to face them, I think that is the power of innocence, because innocence always brings a best friend with it and that best friend’s name is ‘The Truth’.

The use of ‘Oldness of time’ to me seems like a home-run. All the things dead and alive, beautiful and ugly, good and bad, young and old- all of them are witnessed by the Time. This has also given the time ‘that’ wisdom. Our songwriter wants that gift of wisdom through oldness; and here she also questions beginning of the time indirectly. She is literally questioning the fundamentals of life. That is clearer in straight-ness of line because what could be straighter than a line! (:D) Sugar is the basic definition of sweetness and niceness. She desires to experience the extremities which are called upon through ‘Fire and Ice’. It’s like axioms are getting established in this verse!

Queen’s royalty indicates the sophistication and controlled behavior to ensure higher value delivery from the people surrounding her, but ‘buzz’ness of bee shows that she wants to be just more than sophisticated- she wants to remain excited for everything too. Stealth and smoothness show the subtlety, refined nature she wants to have in life.

For the final argument, she makes a universal and all-inclusive statement that she wants to be as pure as possible. Her ambition for purity brings down all the boundaries and blends the differences/extremities and common denominator of the qualities she has expressed. She doesn’t want to separate each feeling, justify each feeling to an animal or thing- she wants to create her own point of view, her own standard. Authenticity is the one thing the songwriter desires to have from all the things she wants to become.

That is what children are. They are innocent- guileless- no tricks involved. If a child is angry, he/she will never hide that feeling (you will find it on their nose- no GPS needed!). Their laughter is contagious enough to melt a rock. Their questions are clear and fundamental. I think these things gets lost while we are growing up. We as a child had these all feelings, ambitions but with time, company of people, incidences- some of them got amplified and some got dumped down. Today we are identified by what became amplified and stayed with us. The songwriter wants to bring back that everything which makes us a human. We are a mixture of feelings, experiences and learnings.

This song is a calling for that child in you.

Or maybe this not that great song, it’s just a child blabbering out what she learned today in kindergarten. Maybe it is just my overthinking. But it still proves the point. I play this song in my mind as if some kid is singing it with that characteristic childish lisp!

An adult scientist is a kid who never grew up

Neil deGrasse Tyson