Deep Inside (Glosa - Fight Song by Rachel Platten)

Wildfire - Rachel Platten

Album Cover

Artist: Rachel Platten
Song: Fight Song
Album: Wild Fire
Label: Columbia Records, a Division of Sony Music Entertainment
Year: 2015
Genre: Pop


Song Selection/Research:

At first, I could not say what made “Fight Song” pop into my head as a potential option, but then I realized that I had recently heard an instrumental version of the song and it’s definitely a recognizable piece. I can actually remember the first time I came across the song. While driving with my friend and her two little ones, the youngest (five at the time) started belting out the song. In fact, I have a video later that year of her singing at the top of her lungs along with Rachel Platten during her New Year’s Eve performance where she rang in 2017.

I think what really sold the song for me was that I remembered reading awhile back about her inspiration for the song. In a way, as a poet who pretty much writes for an audience of one, I guess I could relate to the struggle she faced and the conflicting desires to give up and fight on. I guarantee the glosa inspired by this song will never see the fame of “Fight Song;” I’d be lucky if it ever made it past my usual audience of one. Regardless, I definitely think this is a good anthem particularly as I undertake this project.


Cabeza:

"Starting right now I’ll be strong
  I’ll play my fight song
  And I really don’t care if nobody else believes
  ‘Cause I’ve got a lot of fight left in me."


The Writing Process:

(01/16/2018)
So, I settled on the lyrics that would stand as my cabeza two days ago and have yet to actually begin composing beyond writing down the cabeza and outline, which admittingly I only did today. Regardless, my brain has already begun to ponder ideas about how to move forward. One focuses in general on the direction of the piece and the other was on the rhymes I would need to contend with as I write.

As I mentioned in my last piece, I do like to try to incorporate ideas (and/or wording) from the song along with the verbatim lines used with the stanzas. There is also the potential for my composition to be a response of sorts to the original song (usually based on my own interpretation as it is rare to find genuine information from the artist regarding the meaning behind a song – not the case here). I’m rambling, I know; it is one of my talents (talent being relative to the observer, that is). To my point, my contemplation at the point is to write the piece from a parallel perspective of someone (namely me) who more often than not feels like giving up on my writing of poetry (or writing, in general). Unless something else strikes me, this is most likely the avenue I will take in regard to the direction of the piece.

After thoughts of directions slowly slipped from my mind, I began to think about the words with which I would need to rhyme. My first “revelation” was the first two stanzas would be incorporating the same rhyme sound as one would end with ‘strong’ and the other with ‘song’, but I’m not particularly worried about them (at least at this moment). The final stanzas rhyme also did not give me pause (‘me’). The one that lead to my conundrum (and I haven’t even started writing is ‘believes’).

The only word that came to mind was ‘relieves’, but then that is a multi-syllabic rhyme. Technically, rhyming with ‘eves’ would be enough, especially as I believe ‘relieves’ is the only multi-syllabic rhyme – mind you as I type this, I realized ‘leaves’ would also be acceptable. (That aside…) This lead me to ponder the idea of using the word ‘believe’ as its own rhyme (as I did with ‘life’ in my last glosa. This lead me to think about placement; would it fall in the sixth line or the ninth line; which lead to, what if I maintained that pattern throughout using each rhyme word twice in each stanza within the same line positions…. So, that is where I am currently at. We will see what unfolds as inspiration finds itself with pencil to paper.

(01/18/2018)
Finally managed to get myself to crack open my notebook. Just spent the last twenty plus minutes working on the first two stanzas, which lead to some interesting decisions. While conscious of line length as I wrote (not syllable just general length), three other ideas found their way into this start of this poem.

The first being about rhyme choice and repetition. While initially, I thought to myself “song” and “strong” shouldn’t be a challenge for rhyming…well apparently, I did not think that through completely. Prior to today’s writing, I had managed to ponder other rhymes and was really feeling pretty strongly about the idea of using the last word in each stanza in their respective sixth line. Not until I actually began composing did I think that maybe repetition of the whole line would be nice (a variation on the envelope glosa). And yes, that is what I ended up doing with a slight addition at the start of each. The question now is will I be able to pull this off for the next two stanzas.

The other interesting choice, which also had to do with repetition that came didn’t not rear its head until the second stanza. As the first few lines began to form in my head (and on paper), I decided to end the third line with the same three words, “one after another.” Again, it will be interesting to see if I can manage to continue this. Or if maybe instead I’ll unearth a different ending to line three that I’ll repeat in the last two stanzas.

Lastly, I’ve sort of found a mixed direction. As I started, I decided to incorporate other ideas from the lyrics. With the end of the first stanza, I was pretty sure I would not be including my own struggle with writing, but somehow the second stanza proved me wrong. Honestly, I’m really interested in seeing where this takes me next.

(01/20/2018)
Spent this afternoon with the last two stanzas. When last I wrote, I mentioned three generally things that had made their way to the surface as I composed the first two stanzas. There was also a bit of pondering as to whether I’d be able to maintain some of these within the stanzas yet to be written.

So, in my struggle with rhyme, I had decided to not just to repeat the final word at the closure of the sixth line, but to actually repeat the line in its entirety. Any concern this may not work with the last two stanzas was apparently unfounded. I was able to easily maintain this without much effort.

The second (unexpected) thing to happen was the repetition of “one after another” at the end of line three in both the first and second stanza. It had happened so naturally in those two, I was worried that I would not necessarily maintain the idea, though I was open to a variation of repetition within the third line of the last two stanzas’ third line. As it happened, the words came naturally to the third stanza, just not until the fourth line. So, with a slight tweak to the lines, I managed to place it at the end of the third line. Now, I was perfectly willing to give up on it altogether in the last stanza, allowing the last one to standout a bit. But this time it did come quite naturally. So, another success.

Finally. I discussed the direction of the poem. With it finished, I feel as though I was able to mimic the first two and brought the idea back to my writing in the final stanza. And with that, another glosa has found its way into the spotlight.


The Finished Piece
(01/20/2018)

Again, I will be sharing the cabeza and opening stanza for this glosa. That said, so you could see a little of what I was talking about during my journaling, here is a bit more of the beginning of “Deep Inside”.

"Starting right now I’ll be strong
   I’ll play my fight song
      And I really don’t care if nobody else believes
         ‘Cause I’ve got a lot of fight left in me."
                                                              –Fight Song
                                                                Rachel Platten

I’m dreaming in oceanic waves
of my own making;
every tear causing a ripple – one after another –
until the magnitude is more than
this vessel of mine can handle.
But starting right now I’ll be strong –
building myself up
from the inside out.
It’s time I stop just getting along;
Starting right now I’ll be strong.

I miss when the outpour of words
where just for me,
each carefully and strategically placed – one after another;
now I suffocate as I open myself up
to the silence of the world.
Still I’ll play my fight song,
allow my words
to be my armor.
Until eventually I’ll feel like I belong,
I’ll play my fight song.

…

…



Work Cited

“Wildfire.” Cover Art Image. Album Review: Rachel Platten – Wildfire, Beyond the Stage Magazine, 08 January 2016, http://www.beyondthestagemagazine.com/album-review-rachel-platten-wildfire/.

Hartman, Taryn and Valiente, Alexa. “Rachel Platten Explains the Real Story Behind Her Hit ‘Fight Song’.” ABC News, 22 December 2015, http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/rachel-platten-explains-real-story-hit-fight-song/story?id=35628664.

Jones, Abigail. “Rachel Platten and the Story Behind ‘Fight Song,’ the Song You Can’t Get Out of Your Head.” Newsweek, 12 March 2016, http://www.newsweek.com/2016/03/25/rachel-platten-my-fight-song-436214.html.

Platten, Rachel. “Fight Song.” Wildfire, Columbia Records, 2015.