BLOG ENTRY #4

ELISHA COX
ENGLISH 102
09/28/2013

DAVID COOK
PERMANENT

Is this the moment where I look you in the eye?

Forgive my broken promise that you'll never see me cry

And everything, it will surely change even if I tell you I won't go away today

Will you think that you're all alone

When no one's there to hold your hand?

And all you know seems so far away and everything is temporary

Rest your head

I'm permanent

I know he's living in hell every single day

And so I ask, oh God is there some way for me to take his place

And when they say it's all touch and go

I wish I could make it go away

But still you say

Will you think that you're all alone

When no one's there to hold your hand?

When all you know seems so far away

And everything is temporary,

Rest your head

I'm permanent

I'm permanent

Is the moment where I look you in the eye?

Forgive my broken promise that you'll never see me cry.

David Roland Cook was born in Texas (1982) and raised in Missouri. He started playing music at the age of 12 when he self taught himself how to play the guitar and formed a band at the age of 15. He is a songwriter and singer in the genre of Alternative rock and Pop music. Cook took part in the eighth season of American Idol and won it ; and from there is career jumped started. During one of his tours he lost his brother against the battle of cancer and one of his albums were dedicated to him and this song i am about to write about.
“PERMANENT” may describe and everlasting event which can not be changed or undone ,it is a foreboding of what is to come in the rest of the poem.The speaker can not face that individual anymore(line 1).There is a type of reassurance and broken promises , feeling that someone can not fulfill all what they said they would do ,and even if there are not there , they are still present so have faith(2-8). i know he is suffering everyday that he is alive ,God I'm asking you ,to let it be me instead, let me be the one who feels the pain(9-10).It may not be so everyday ,you may not feel this pain your entire life, he wishes that he could wipe away all your fears, hurt and pain and know that you not here alone, that i am here with you to hold your hand, be patient for I am always with you(10-19).Permanent is being repeated again ,an everlasting present or memory that will never live.(20).Is this the time I look through you, forgive me for breaking my promise I never wanted to see you cry.(21)
The song Permanent by David cook is about losing something that is important to you and trying to find reassurance that life will go on and that we will meet again.  According to  dictionary.com, Permanent  means “everlasting,existing perpetually” , in this case in the context of this song it means although death has separated us and we can no longer be together , just know that i am forever with you , when u need me , we are separated physically but that doesn't mean that we cannot be together ,as my memories are with you and this death is only temporary.. The song permanent is about loss and trying to accept it, it is a conversation between the one who has died and the surviving brother , a back to back conversation.
In the first half of the song the individual who is dying crying out , he is asking “.Is this the moment where I look you in the eye?

Forgive my broken promise that you'll never see me cry And everything, it will surely change even if I tell you I won't go away today” He knows that his end is near and he won't be there to fulfill all the promises he has made , his promises to always be there through thick and thin, to be the biggest supporter the writer has , to be the one who holds his and  doesn't show no fear. he wants the writer to forgive him for crying not being able to stand next to him , to  not be able to look him in the eyes any more. Guilt has taken over his being as he doesn't want to face the writer because he is dying. He  knows that  he won't depart this earth at this very moment but when it does happen  that you should know that life is going to change,and that you won't be the same anymore. I believe that the first speaker is accepting his fate; which is death,  although he won't be able to be there in the flesh,spiritually he will always be there. The pain and hurt that the writer is experiencing is just temporary,and so is his  death( it is a physical departure),and we will be together yet again when you come to meet me. The first speaker is reassuring the writer by trying to put his mind at ease and by trying hard to tell him do not think of this as the end, but something that is temporary “And everything is temporary,

Rest your head I'm permanent. Hence why these two sentences are constantly being repeated throughout the song , it is a sign of validation.
In the second stanza the speaker switches back  to the writer, he questions what  God has done,he is asking God, why does death have to exist ?, why couldn't he make him better? , why have him die? , why make him feel like this? and why didn't he  take him instead?  He wants go to have let him be the one who had to suffer, let him be the one who is going through this pain , to allow him to move into  the darkness “I know he's living in hell every single day

And so I ask, oh God is there some way for me to take his place.” People say that this feeling comes 

and goes , that after death there comes life , a light but it isn't so , he wishes that this wasn't true , 

that he could erase everything that has happened , erase your suffering , the pain.You not being able 

to hold my hand.
 
It then switches back to the first  speaker ,  who  is reassuring the writer once again  that everything 

is going to be okay, that life will go on and that his memories  will  not disappear if he doesn't exist on 

earth any more, his presence is everlasting  and this phase in his life is just temporary ,” I  AM 

PERMANENT”.(last line)

CITATIONS
Lyrics
Web.
www.lyrics.com

Biography
www.davidcookoffical.com
Dictionary
www.dictionary.com