Internal Struggle (Flaws by Bastille)

All This Bad Blood - Bastille

Album Cover

Artist: Bastille
Song: Flaws
Album: All This Bad Blood
Label: Virgin Records
Year: 2013
Genre: Alternative/Indie


Song Selection/Research: 

Admittingly, I did not do much research upon choosing the cabeza for this next glosa. In fact, the song found me quite unexpectedly while I was working on the previous glosa. Really that is the way I’d prefer to find inspiration, but this project seems to have left me searching in a more deliberate way rather than (for lack of a better word) serendipitously. Anyway, obviously the words spoke to me and so I didn’t really think twice nor thrice about exploring the intended meaning behind the song before I found myself with pencil to paper.

There is part of me that wished I had allowed things to remain that way, but apparently that was not meant to be. I’ve discussed before the personal interpretation I have found and harnessed when composing these pieces. That does not mean the meaning did not fit my take, but just that I put a bit more of myself in the piece. Sometimes, the lack of genuine knowledge of the purpose behind the song has allowed this, as it is not always easy to determine intended meaning. Were that the case with this.

I am know contemplating exactly how I want to take this new information and adjust the initial direction I was looking to take to align a bit more (though still not exactly) with the intended (or rather not intended) meaning. Did that sound as confusing as I think it did? Clarification: the song is not about loves. Where does that leave me? I have an idea, but not sure I can pull it off. We’ll just have to wait and see.


Cabeza:

"You have always worn your flaw upon your sleeve
   And I have always buried them deep beneath the ground
      Dig them up; let’s finished what we started
         Dig them up, so nothings left untouched."


The Writing Process:

(02/19/2018)
My selection of this cabeza was not taken lightly. The potential for end rhymes with “started” and “untouched” left me contemplating choosing a different quatrain. Started had 26 rhyme results and untouched nine. While I thought I might be able to get away with started, how was I to manage untouched with nine not very workable rhymes. After a bit of thought, I took a look at near rhymes and decided I could work with the eight near rhymes (with 96% rhyming rate). So, yay, I found my next cabeza and was off running. That was until I went and threw the meaning wrench discussed above in. But I think I’m up for the challenge.

(02/19/2018)
I took a moment or two to review the first stanza and ended up making some small tweaks to alter the initial direction. Though knowing my new direction, at the moment I’m sure it could still be interpreted as referencing two loves. I kind of like that idea, as the song it’s inspired by has a similar misunderstanding. But honestly, I’m still not sure I can pull off what I’m looking to do. That along with the impeding doom of the next two rhymes has me a bit nervous about what lays unwritten and, yet, a bit excited, as well.

(02/20/2018)
Well, this morning I completed the final stanza. I included some similarities in structure/phrase within stanza one and three, as well as between stanza two and four. The first four lines of one and three have a similarity with some portions repeating and blending with similar ideas. (e.g., lines one, two and part of three from stanza one, “The time has come, I do believe, / to tear open my heart and bare / all the truths…” and lines one, two and part of three from stanza three, “The time has come, there’s no doubt, / to tear open my soul and lay / all these flaws…” Within stanza two and four, lines four and five, respectively are the same. Though I admit, until typing this right now, I had thought them in the same line, but close enough.

This of course leaves me with one last point to discuss, direction. “Who’s the you?” After all, I did say that it would not be about two loves though it might have that fee. I feel like the last stanza hints a bit more at what I was going for, yet still I know there is a bit of ambiguity. The title, which came quite quickly was my real hint at the “you” in question, but then again…. So, when it says, “These flaws of ours – yours & mine / yours – mine,” well they are one in the same really. Seems only fitting when a lot of the pieces I’ve written refer to a darkness and/or demons within.

Okay, I’m back. As I was contemplating sharing both the first and last stanza (what a treat!), I gave pause to the line that I thought fell in the same position within stanzas two and four. After reading it over both ways, I have decided I kind of like the sound of switching lines four and five in the final stanza; this, of course, means the repetition will now appear in the same line (four). 


The Finished Piece
(02/20/2018)

Again, I will be sharing the cabeza and opening stanza for this glosa. That said, here’s the first (and for the fun of it, the last) stanza of “Internal Struggle”.

"You have always worn your flaw upon your sleeve
   And I have always buried them deep beneath the ground
      Dig them up; let’s finished what we started
         Dig them up, so nothings left untouched."
                                                                             –Flaws
                                                                               Bastille

The time has come, I do believe,
to tear open my heart and bare
all the truths I dare to hide
and maybe accept this love burning
to finally breathe – you see,
I’ve been waiting on you to leave
tired of fighting this battle within me,
but you continually remain
with no intentions to deceive
for you have always worn your flaws upon your sleeve.

…

…

These flaws of ours – yours & mine
          yours         –         mine
I want so much to disown them,
but no more, no more,
that’s exactly the opposite of what I need to do;
for far too long I’ve hushed
the voice deep inside me.
There’s only one way to release you before
beneath the weight of these flaws we are crushed;
let’s dig them up, so nothings left untouched.



Work Cited

Bastille. “Flaws.” All This Bad Blood, Virgin Records, 2013.

Willsoer. “Bastille Interview.” Every Passing Car, 04 March 2012, https://everypassingcar.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/bastille-interview/.