Andrea+R

= //Easier To Run// - Linkin Park = From the album //Meteora//, released on 2003.

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__**What I'll talk about**__

 * Brief introduction to the song and to the band.
 * Song lyrics.
 * Lyrics analysis.
 * Conclusion.
 * Task.

**__Brief introduction to the band and to the song__**
Linkin Park is, I could say, one of my favourite bands. I personally love their sound and I specially like their lyrics, as they make me feel as if they said what I was thinking for me. This band along with their songs have helped me in especially bad moments, and this is one of the things that made me choose the group. Linkin Park's members are:
 * Chester Bennington - vocals
 * Mike Shinoda - vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboard
 * Rob Bourdon - drums, percussion
 * Brad Delson - lead guitar
 * David "Phoenix" Farrell - bass
 * Joseph "Mr" Farrell - turntables, programming, sample

"Easier To Run" is a sad and vulnerable song; it makes me think of someone who's gone through a lot.

**__Song lyrics__**
It's easier to run  Replacing this pain with something numb  It's so much easier to go  Than face all this pain here all alone

 Something has been taken from deep inside of me  The secret I've kept locked away no one can ever see  Wounds so deep they never show they never go away  Like moving pictures in my head for years and years they've played

(If I could change I would, take back the pain I would)  (Retrace every wrong move that I made I would)  (If I could stand up and take the blame I would)  (If I could take all the shame to the grave I would)  (If I could change I would, take back the pain I would)  (Retrace every wrong move that I made I would)  (If I could stand up and take the blame I would)  (I would take all my shame to the grave)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">[Chorus] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> It's easier to run <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> Replacing this pain with something numb <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> It's so much easier to go <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> Than face all this pain here all alone

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Sometimes I remember the darkness of my past <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> Bringing back these memories I wish I didn't have <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> Sometimes I think of letting go and never looking back <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> And never moving forward so there'd never be a past

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">(If I could change I would take back the pain I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> (Retrace every wrong move that I made I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> (If I could stand up and take the blame I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> (If I could take all the shame to the grave I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> (If I could change I would take back the pain I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> (Retrace every wrong move that I made I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> (If I could stand up and take the blame I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> (I would take all my shame to the grave)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Just washing it aside <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> All of the helplessness inside <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> Pretending I don't feel misplaced <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> It's so much simpler than change

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">[Chorus] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> It's easier to run <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> Replacing this pain with something numb <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> It's so much easier to go <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> Than face all this pain here all alone

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">It's easier to run <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> (If I could change I would, take back the pain I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> (Retrace every wrong move that I made) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> It's easier to go <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> (If I could change I would, take back the pain I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> (Retrace every wrong move that I made I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> (If I could stand up and take the blame I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> (I would take all my shame, to the grave)

__**Lyrics Analysis**__
This song can be interpreted in many ways. I personnally hadn't stopped and thought about the lyrics; I sang along and everything, and I even thought about the meaning, but I didn't come up to lots of interpretations. It wasn't until I started to plan the song and to look for possible senses, when I came up with these ideas:
 * The singer, or the person of whom the song talks about, has gone through a terrible experience, and is desperate to leave his past and his suffering behind. The experience itself is not specified.
 * Another interpretation, perhaps more daring, is that the "voice" has been abused, sexually or psichologically. Later on the presentation I will explain why we can come to this conclusion.

In the first stanza, that's also the chorus, we can see a person that is tormented by his past, that wants to let go of everything that binds him to his past.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">"It's easier to run <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Replacing this pain with something numb <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">It's so much easier to go <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Than face all this pain here all alone"

I guess the idea of wanting to escape from the difficulties instead of facing them directly is a tempting situation that nearly all of us have been in. That's why I think they are very appropiate words, that make you relate to the situation in the first stanza, even though you don't know what he's going through. Basically, he'd like to forget whatever happened. If we look at it with the abuse point of view, we can see that he's trying to run away from the past, to forget.

In the second stanza is where the abuse point of view gets more relevant.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">"Something has been taken from deep inside of me <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The secret I've kept locked away no one can ever see <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Wounds so deep they never show they never go away <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Like moving pictures in my head for years and years they've played"

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The something could be interpreted as his innocence, and the secret that is kept is all about his mistreatment, that he can't talk about with no one. The years that are talked about could say that he's been mistreated for a long time without him being able to do anything about it.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The pre-chorus talks about what he would do if he felt capable of doing it, if he could change the course of the events in his life.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">"(If I could change I would, take back the pain I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(Retrace every wrong move that I made I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(If I could stand up and take the blame I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(If I could take all the shame to the grave I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(If I could change I would, take back the pain I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(Retrace every wrong move that I made I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(If I could stand up and take the blame I would) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(I would take all my shame to the grave)"

I think that he blames himself for what happened to him. He feels guilty for it. He even says he'd like to die to take the shame with him. Whatever he has gone through, it must have been very hard for him to even consider suicide.

The chorus is, melodically, the strongest part of the song. It makes a break with the rest of it, that's darker and more mournful, that is as if with only the melody, without words, he's breaking free from his despair.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">"It's easier to run <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Replacing this pain with something numb <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">It's so much easier to go <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Than face all this pain here all alone"

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">He feels lonely, with no one to talk to and to confess all of his suffering and all of what he's gone through. It makes you feel really sympathetic with him.

In the second verse we can see that he may talk again of suicide.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">"Sometimes I remember the darkness of my past <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Bringing back these memories I wish I didn't have <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Sometimes I think of letting go and never looking back <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">And never moving forward so there'd never be a past"

He's so ashamed of his past, so scared of it maybe, he says he sometimes thinks of comitting suicide, so that all of those memories would go with him. The never moving forward gives more strength to this supposition, because if he left the life he's in he wouldn't move forward anymore.

After the pre-chorus, we find the bridge, the verse that usually breaks with the rest of song. Here he makes an eco of the rest of the song, repeting the idea he has said all along.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">"Just washing it aside <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">All of the helplessness inside <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Pretending I don't feel misplaced <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">It's so much simpler than change"

In this last part he expresses that what he's gone through, his past, makes him different from the people around him, as he doesn't belong, and that he'll feel this way for the rest of his life.

__**Conclusion**__
Finally I would conclude with saying that this song is an expression of what the voice wanted to do all along the song: he's breaking free, he's finally found a way to break with all of his past and to start again... The song he wrote for it.

Easier to Run //is included in Linkin Park's album// Meteora, //released on 2003.//

__**Task**__
1. Put in order the sentences.

1. Something has been taken... 2. It's easier to run... 3. Retrace every... 4. Pretending I... 5. Sometimes I think of letting go... 6. And never moving forward...

a. ... wrong move I made I would. b. ... so there'd never be a past. c. ... and never looking back. d. ... from deep inside of me e. ... don't feel misplaced. f. ... replacing this pain with something numb.

2.

Just --- it aside all of the aside Pretending I don't feel - It's so much --- than --.

It's -- to run, - this pain with something It's so easier to go  Than face all this  here all alone.