Emarosa - A Toast to the Future Kids

Piece it all together now
Because I sell myself short every time
Oh, how you became my life
You took me in before I could back out
Well I still have faith
It will start again
Oh, I still have faith

Well I'm about to spend my cold life
Cutting corners, placing blame
Any moment this could catch fire,
Erasing all the stains, so here's to starting over
We could be the same, we'll change it all together
The future's mine to claim,
Claim, mine to claim

You can't get out
Fear, couldn't place its hands on us my dear
My pride has dropped
Because I couldn't sell short myself this time
String it along
Say you'll love me either way

Well I'm about to spend my cold life
Cutting corners, placing blame
Any moment this could catch fire,
Erasing all the stains, so here's to starting over
We could be the same, we'll change it all together
The future's mine to claim

Seeing past
It's about time I asked for more
Watching my life, at the distance we have come
Well I've lived, well I've learned
But I always seem to give up on my self
(Self, self, self, self)
String it along
Say you'll love me either way
Say you'll love me any way
While I'm alone
Say you'll love me either way

Mine to claim, claim!

Well I'm about to spend my cold life
Cutting corners, placing blame
Any moment this could catch fire,
Erasing all the stains, so here's to starting over
We could be the same, we'll change it all together
The future's mine to claim...

 This song, too me, seems like the writer is trying to mend a past relationship. He, the writer, starts off in the first stanza talking about how someone or some group took him in, and how it became his life. But, he then says "Well I still have faith / It will start again / Oh, I still have faith", meaning that whatever relationship they had is over, but he has faith that it will start back up again. In the second stanza, we have the chorus. Here he talks about how he is going to "spend my cold life / cutting corners, placing blame" which would mean he would spend the rest of his cold life, blaming others for his short comings. Directly after that though he says "Any moment this could catch fire, / Erasing all the stains, so here's to starting over / we could be the same, we'll change it all together / The future's mine to claim," meaning that the argument they had would go up in flames, essentially disappearing, that they could be the same or they could change how they were, the future is up to him. The third stanza the writer talks about his shortcomings. He talks about you can't get out, but fear was no match for them. He then says that his pride has dropped, and he hopes that you will love him either way. We then have the chorus again, to strengthen the claim that he wants to start over and that they can accomplish anything in the future. In the fifth stanza the writer talks about how it's time that they give it another go, that they have come to far to back out now. He says with these lines "Well I've lived, well I've learned / But I always seem to give up on my self" that he has learned a lot but he gives up on himself, possibly saying that if they would give him encouragement, he could do it. Then he says "Say you'll love me either way / Say you'll love me any way", which means that, no matter what, he wants their love no matter what he does. He then ends with the chorus, emphasizing the fact that the future is his, and he wants it to be with the person or group he is writing too.

Hills like White Elephants

Before I get into analyzing the story Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway, let me explain a little context of the situation. I was going onto ecampus to do my reading before class, and when I was scrolling down to find the reading, the name Hills like White Elephants caught my eye. This is the exact same title a song that I like, and I was a bit curious to see if they had anything in common, so I read it. Now I am not comparing the two, I just wanted to explain how I stumbled upon this story. The story starts out in a train station, with a man and a woman ordering some drinks on a hot day. The woman comments that the hills looks like white elephants, to which the male responds that hes never seen a white elephants, and the female further comments that he wouldn't have. I thought this was kind of weird that she would say something like that so I looked up the phrase "hills like white elephants" because I had never heard of that phrase before. It ends up that a white elephant is used to represent something that isn't wanted. After a conversation about how they should enjoy themselves the girl takes back her statement and says that the hills no longer look like white elephants to her. After a little more small talk the male tells the female he wants her to have a operation. While in the whole story they never specify what the operation is, they talk about it a lot, which was frustrating because I felt like if i knew, it would make the story more complete. The male tries to tell her that the operation isn't a big thing, and that "It’s not really an operation at all.". The rest of the story the male is trying to get her to have the operation. He tells her that if she has it they could do anything they wanted, that everything will be back to the way it was after. She tells him that she doesn't want to talk about the operation anymore, and she makes the male promise her that he will stop talking to her about it. Afterward they order one more drink and the train comes and they are off. While the story was complete, I felt like I was missing something. I felt that if i knew what the operation was, that the story would be complete. After reading it again, I narrowed it down by realizing its an operation that a female was having, It wasn't a serious one, rather it was one that would make her ... normal ... again. Now there are very few operations that are not serious, and even fewer that make you normal again. After this I realized it could only be one thing. She was talking about an abortion. It made so much sense now, at the begging of the story she said that the hills looks like white elephants, and what she really meant was that the baby was her white elephant, something she didn't want. After thinking about it a little she realizes that she wants to have the baby, all the while the male tries to convince her that she should have the abortion, that their is so much more left to do in their life. The story felt so much more complete after I recognized this. I rather enjoyed this little puzzle. The author laid everything out, but left one small detail out so that the story still made sense, but then again also felt as if it was missing a small part of it that left it from being truly complete.

Heads or Tails? Real or Not - Emarosa

                                                                                                                                                             
 Heads or Tails? Real or Not

Emarosa

You loved it when my heart dropped, you paused, stopped, and walked away     

Full of content that it went your way

These cuts that I've caused are never too deep to heal
Peel back the bandage, see a scar from countless careless things

And feel yourself drifting, pulled away

Well nothing feels real anymore
I'm not taking my time anymore
To show you how I feel
To show you who I am
Cause it's locked away

We all need to find our way
Cut the loss, just walk away, ooh

Now head towards the light, the dark has no place here
Now head towards the light, the dark has no place here

I don't feel real, I don't feel real
This pain is beating.
I don't feel real, I don't feel real

Well nothing feels real anymore
I'm not taking my time anymore

Now head towards the light, the dark has no place here
Now head towards the light, the dark has no place here

Well nothing feels real anymore
I'm not taking my time anymore
To show you how I feel
To show you who I am
Cause it's locked away

The things we think about at night never lose taste
Now, take the close to find something greater
This wall has finally reached it's end
It's higher ground, lets make a stand
Did you ever think we would get this high?
Pull back the sheets to find the ending that you prayed for.

Now head towards the light, the dark has no place here
Now head towards the light

The singer of Emarosa wrote this song about how he felt about leaving his old band Dance Gavin Dance. In the first two lines he writes about how his old band didn't do anything to help him, his heart dropped and they stopped and walked away, full of content that they had won the last say in the argument. In the next two lines he seems to be talking about how he wants to make amends. With the line "These cuts that I've caused are never too deep to heal" I would argue that he is talking about the fighting they had, its never too bad to forgive and say sorry, and "Peel back the bandage, see a scar from countless careless things" would follow it complimenting the previous line by saying that we have had many arguments before, and they heal up and we forget about them. In lines 6 through 10 is the chorus. He is talking about how he isn't going to bother trying to show his band members who he is, and if they wanted to find out that it's too late. Then he says "We all need to find our way / Cut the loss, just walk away", he means that we all need to know when its over and not try to save it. Just cut our losses and walk away. He repeats the next line "Now head towards the light, the dark has no place here" twice, with the light being the future, and the dark being his past trying to pull him back.  With his next 3 lines being "I don't feel real, I don't feel real / This pain is beating. / I don't feel real, I don't feel real" I would argue that he is talking about how it hurts to leave, it happened so fast it's almost like a dream. He then repeats the first two lines of the chorus and the previous 2 lines about not letting the dark in, emphasizing that it doesn't feel real but he can't look back now he has to move on. The chorus then comes in, too repeat the fact that it's too late if they wanted him back. Lines 27-32 are about how the things we dream about, never go out of style. That he dreams of being in a new band and that he has finally found it. And it feels good. The last two lines to end the song emphasize that he doesn't want to look back upon the past. There is only the future.