Forgotten

I actually wrote a college paper where I examined this song:

Like most modern rock songs, “Forgotten” is a song centered about love, or more specifically a loss of love. These kinds of songs have become mainstream in our culture. Although artists of these songs often use lyrics help their listeners warmly embrace a loved one, Linkin Park has opted to take a more negative approach to their song. Although some will argue that this negative tone can poison a person, sending them into a deeper depression over a lost love (Are Love), this is not the case. Linkin Park sings “Forgotten” in such a way that some listeners can live vicariously through the lyrics. This approach is conversely positive in consequence, because it allows the listener to release his or her pain through music, thus either beginning or continuing a recovery process. Linkin Park’s lead vocalist Chester Bennington summarizes his purpose in writing this song very well by stating that, “In this country, people don’t think about the sensitivity of young men. It’s a real tragedy. For kids to be able to listen to bands like us who don’t express themselves through violence and vulgarity, it helps kids express themselves. (Linkin Park Alliance)” Through further examination of the song’s lyrics, one can see exactly how the band’s goal is executed. I am approaching from a rhetorical perspective. “Forgotten” is a form of rhetoric, both musically and lyrically; it is a symbol that provokes certain thoughts within its listeners. We can analyze this song because its musicality and lyrics do indeed send a powerful message to the listener. The song incorporates many rhetorical contexts, such as characters, place, time, and delivery, and communicates these strategies with the appropriate artistry, as effective rhetoric should (Zarefsky 17-4). Let us first consider the prelude to the song. We can break apart the prelude and then rearrange it into two distinctively different parts:

Bottom to top I stop From the top to the bottom In the middle of my thoughts At the core I've forgotten The picture is there Taken far from my safety But why should I care The memory won't escape me

This rearrangement is also acoustically perceived through the exchange every other line by the two vocalists, Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda. Chester’s lines, as seen on the left, introduce a relationship in a very positive light. The words “bottom to top” imply an ascent, presumably in a relationship. A figurative character (presumably male) then stops when he sees his “picture,” a visual goal of what he wanted in his relationship, but then goes on to ask “Why should I care?” suggesting that his relationship to the implied female character was problematic. This problem is introduced in Mike’s lyrics, as seen on the right. These lines imply that a relationship has faded away over time, but the safety and happiness that the relationship brought him has caused him to become bittersweet in retrospect. The prelude does a good job of describing the conflict, but not necessarily defining it. This allows for the audience to interpret it as they may, but still be able to relate to this bittersweet forgetful feeling. The remainder of the song continues to define the character’s inner conflict in the same fashion. Two main verses comprise the majority of the rhetorical material in the song. The first verse is very poignant and suggestive indeed. Mike jumps right into the bulk of the song with a strong attitude and an arsenal of imagery and metaphors. He first refers to a “place so dark you can’t see the end.” Here, he clearly uses a main idea in rhetoric – place. He does not directly define this place, but describes it as being so dark that an end is not visible. Darkness is a word that carries a negative connotation. It is often associated with evil or madness, and in this case, he uses dark imagery to convey a message that he is lost. In this lost place – a reflection of his mind – he is “forcefully” assailed by lightning and acidic rain, both which serve as symbols of something harmful or destructive. In this case, they represent the memories of his past relationship that are attacking his innocence – an innocence that he wishes to remain intact, but is not due to the “forceful power of suggestion” that “shocks that which can’t defend.” The skies are “cocked back,” symbolizing a gun – another harmful symbol that attacks his mind. The question that the rain sends is the question that was posed in the prelude, “Why should I care?” In other words, an unwelcome thought is nagging him against his will. He then goes into a more profound explanation of this pain, closing his eyes to escape the dark, negative world that has been created in his mind. This itself is ironic because when we close our eyes, all we see is darkness. Knowing this, we can infer that the dark place that he is trying to escape is darker than dark, thus epitomizing the image. Mike hints at hope to overcome this feeling of evil when he describes a “small spot of light” on the floor. Light is one of the most powerful symbols in any text. It symbolizes everything good, derived from connotations of hope, peace, heaven or enlightenment, and the outdoors. Even this small amount of light temporarily gives him hope of escaping this dark place, completely overcoming, or “flooding” all things bad – darkness, rust, rot, and dust. But soon that light is overcome, and “the eyes ease open,” exposing only darkness again. This imagery can be seen as a metaphor, where negative feelings overcome the hope of escape or healing. This lines creates within the listener a feeling of being so close, yet so far away to a solution, where even the least bit of hope fades away (SongMeanings). After this verse, the prelude repeats, followed by the chorus. The chorus is a short, albeit integral and unique, part of the song. Although the other phrases in the song all incorporate underlying harmony, the chorus is the only phrase in the entire song that is actually compliments this harmony with a vocal melody line. It is also the repeated more than any other phrase. Both of these facts help to expose the chorus, suggesting that the writers, Chester and Mike, felt it is of particularly importance. The first line explains that the character is trapped in his own memories, where his eyes are “burning up.” This line introduces fire imagery. Fire often has a negative connotation, perceived as a symbol of extreme discomfort, destruction, pain, the apocalypse, or hell. The fire in his eyes, representative of negativity and evil, combined with a restrictive darkness, also representative of negativity and evil, gives a strong impression that the character being described is in a state of extreme suffering due to his inability to forget his past. Light imagery is again injected into the song in the last line of the chorus. The ideas of ascent as a mechanism for reaching a goal are reintroduced here as well. This last line, “Until the sun rises up,” looks very hopeful in text form, but Chester sings it in a minor key with descending pitches, thus acoustically counterbalancing any hope that the lyrics may imply. This is a clear example of how delivery alters the listener’s initial perception of the rhetorical lyrics. Soon after the chorus, Mike steps in with a second verse. The first two lines reiterate the feeling of confusion that Mike introduced to us in the first verse. He is screaming over the stress he feels inside. This screaming is, to him, eternal noise pollution. “The wheels go round” introduces the rhetorical element of time for the first instance in the song. Evidently, time is passing for the character, and his mental conditions are not improving. We see this static disappointment when the “sun creeps behind street lamps, chain links and concrete.” The sun functions as a form of light, again symbolizing hope of escaping his darkness. This hope, however, is (once again) concealed behind dry, lonely objects. Mike then describes a piece of paper floating down the street. He then uses it as a metaphor of his past relationship. It is “crumpled up” beyond repair, and “floats on down the street” until it is no longer in his reach. This intangible piece of paper is a symbol of his lost love. The “picture drawn” on the paper represents the love he once had. His bittersweet attitude is thus confirmed; he misses the love he once had, but he also wants to escape the torment that the memories bring him. Interestingly, the two main verses create very distinctive places within the listener’s mind. A floor enshrouded by darkness, rust, and dust creates and image of a small, dark room with rickety floorboards and decaying objects scattered within. In the second verse, an image of a barren and desolate street is created in the mind of the viewer, with bare concrete walks, a few scattered street lamps, and a piece of paper being carried by the wind down the lonely street. Both of these places create a feeling of solitude and loneliness. This enhances the previously discussed idea that in the character’s darkness, he is alone and misses the relationship he once had. The last phrase in “Forgotten,” the bridge, is probably the least relevant phrase in the song, but its four lines serve to confirm the character’s anger over his inability to forget the memories of his past relationship. When Mike says “I’m telling you that I see it right through you,” he is essentially trying to force himself to forget the memories of his past. It is at this point in the song that we see a shift from the negative to the positive. The bridge shows that the character is beginning to accomplish his goal of forgetting the past and moving away from the darkness he described earlier. This feeling of accomplishment is accented by the music; by the end of the song, both singers’ voices are elevated and at full throttle. In the last reiteration of the chorus, Chester slightly alters the tone of the last line, ending in a major key with an ascending melodic line. Hope now shines through, and the character has at least begun to overcome the feelings of darkness that he has been fighting for so long. In this respect, “Forgotten” is a song about tainted memories, but also about the struggle of overcoming those memories.