Count on Me (You'll Be Okay by A Great Big World)

Is There Anybody Out There? - A Great Big World

Album Cover

Artist: A Great Big World
Song: You’ll Be Okay
Album: Is There Anybody Out There?
Label: Epic Records
Year: 2014
Genre: Pop


Song Selection/Research:
I started by going through the collection of possible cabezas I had begun to curate, but nothing felt right. So, I started searching my music again. First, I came across “Say Something” and I thought, “yeah.” But then “You’ll Be Okay” played and well my current state of existed wanted to believe those words. Finding the cabeza was the easy part. Now trying to figure out direction to go in…not so much.

The song was written and sung by a duo. This poem not so much; it’s just me. Regardless, I have made my choice. The message behind the song obviously spoke to me, though I suppose choosing the particular lines I did, particularly, “‘cause you’re never alone,” well that spoke to me in a completely different way. Maybe because I do need this message right now and well when it boils down to it, the reason I started this project was because, in a way, with music I feel a bit less alone.

Sorry if none of this makes sense. At the moment, I don’t feel much in the way of logic thought.


Cabeza:

"Just close your eyes
   And let it rain
      ‘Cause you’re never alone
         And I’ll always be there."


The Writing Process:

(02/16/2018)
So many thoughts have already gone through my head and I haven’t even picked up my writing utensil yet. First thought being this was going to end up being on the more personal side, original meaning be damned. Second thought being how do I deal with “‘cause you’re never alone” followed by, “crap, it switches from you to I and there’s only me.” I thought maybe music could be the I, but then music is writing the poem to me? How do I pull that off? Can I be both you and I? Should I just throw this one away altogether? Should I scrap personal and make up the you? Way too many thoughts rolling round in my head, but it has distracted me from the mood that drew me to this song in the first place…so that’s a positive, right?!?

(02/17/2018)
The writing of this piece is slowly moving along and already the composing of it has been unusual…well, unusual may not be the right word for me, as I’m prone to it thus making it rather normal, still…. I have written lines nine (and obviously ten) of the first three stanzas. In addition, the first stanza, thus far has been composed backwards from line ten to six. As for the direction I’m taking with regards to my initial ponderings yesterday, well I think I’ve made a direction decision, but with me that’s prone to change. For now, I’ll keep that one to myself until I see how it works out. What I will say, at the moment it has definitely taken on a personal feel.

(02/18/2018)
Three stanzas down and one to go. The first line I wrote today seems obvious. After all, it was the only ninth line I had yet to write. After that, the lines pretty much flowed in order, with the exception of the sixth from stanza three. That one gave me a bit of a struggle, but I did finally settle on a fitting rhymed line.

I’d like to say nothing else interesting happened while writing; that all the lines flowed simply and without thought of structure or repetition or paralleled ideas between stanzas, but that would be unusual. Having already written the second half of the first stanza, the first came smoothly. It wasn’t until the start of stanza two that I started to make some structural choices that paralleled the first. To begin with, the first four lines have a similar feel and each begin the same within the stanzas (when, and, and, seems) and inside ends line two in all thus far.

Lastly, I could argue that this is the case because songs have refrains that continually repeat, but the truth is I’ve always had an affinity for repetition. That said, line five and six, which have a similar message (“you can count on me” and “I’m here for you”) are the same in all three thus far. With one stanza left to go, we’ll see how well these structural choices are maintained.

(02/18/2018)
Oddly, line six and eight of stanza four were the last of the puzzle. I actually let their emptiness stew for a while before allowing them to breathe to life. I managed to keep all structures devised during the composition of the first three stanzas. So, that was nice.

With the piece finally complete, I suppose it is time to revisit the direction this glosa took. Yes, I made it personal and directed at myself. From who? Well, that is not really clear in the piece. Logic would say it’s a fictional you, but I admit I was thinking of music as the one speaking. It wasn’t until the final stanza that I thought maybe somehow I should have worked in lines or verbiage that hinted at this, but in the end. I have decided to let things stand as is. We can make it our little secret.


The Finished Piece
(02/18/2018)

Again, I will be sharing the cabeza and opening stanza for this glosa. That said, in order to see some of the structural choices I made in action, here’s the first two stanzas of “Count on Me”.

"Just close your eyes
   And let it rain
      ‘Cause you’re never alone
         And I’ll always be here."
                                    –You’ll Be Okay
                                      A Great Big World

When the world overwhelms
and you feel lost inside
and putting up fronts
seems the only way to survive,
you can count on me.
Lay aside your guise,
I’m here for you;
lean back into me,
allow the storm within to rise;
just close your eyes.

When your heart aches
and you feel torn up inside
and holding the tears at bay
seems the only way to let go,
you can count on me.
Stop trying to maintain,
I’m here for you;
open yourself up to me,
you need to feel the pain
and let it rain.

…

…



Work Cited

“You’ll Be Okay by A Great Big World.” Song Facts, http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=31981.

A Great Big World. “You’ll Be Okay.” Is There Anybody Out There?, Epic Records, 2014.