Frightened Rabbit-The Lonliness and the Scream

[abasil9]

Warning:this video makes me sad

Lyrics~
Can you hear the road from this place?
Can you hear footsteps, voices?

Can you see the blood on my sleeve?
I have fallen in the forest
Did you hear me?

In the loneliness
oh the loneliness and the scream
to prove to everyone that I exist
in the loneliness
oh the loneliness and the scream
to bring the blood to the front of my face again

Am I here?
Of course I am, yes
All I need is your hand
to drag me out again

It wasn't me, I didn't dig this ditch
I was walking for weeks
before I fell in

To the loneliness
oh the loneliness and the scream
to prove to everyone that I exist
in the loneliness
oh the loneliness and the scream
to fill a thousand black balloons with air

Fall down, find God
just to lose it again
glue the community together
we were hammering it

Fell down, found love
but I can lose it again
but now our communal heart
it beats miles from here

[abasil9]

Frightened Rabbit's "The Loneliness and the Scream" relates to the themes of isolation and disconnect seen in all members of the Tyrone family. While all four characters (except for Mary at the conclusion of Act 2) are always together with at least one other person, they convey a sense of isolation from the rest of their family, like the "loneliness" from the song. While there is constant conversation are taking place, there is a complete lack of communication and understanding between the family members. In the lines "I have fallen in the forest/did you hear me?" speak to how the family does not communicate what is going on. The character in the song must announce that he has fallen, which means that asking if anyone heard him was useless, as nobody understood what happened. Similarly, Tyrone family members must announce and explain ther actions to eachother, because their reasons for behaving are not understood, like James Tyrone's stinginess due to his humble upbringing or Jamie's manipulation of Edmund due to jealosy. Also, these characters try to combat their sense of isolation from eachother by lashing out, like the "scream to prove to everyone that I exist". There is a conflict within the play between every one of the 4 family members, and each conflict involves harsh accusations followed by a brief reconciliation that makes the two people fighting more aware of one another and strangely brings them closer together. As Edmund says to his father after fighting and then reconciling with him, "I know you better now". To the Tyrones, this "scream", or lashing out, makes their family more aware of them, thus proving that they exist. As the song says, "glue the community together/we were hammering it", the relations between the family, while severed, can be mended. Although the glue would provide a softer bond than the painful nails that would be hammered, the nails would ultimately provide a tighter and more lasting connection to the family, which is what it really needs.