Still Alright - Adam Merrin

[jqueller9]

Still Alright - Adam Merrin

When everything you have goes away
You realize that nothing means a thing
Everything you thought was a big deal
Now you see it all and what is real

When all you have just falls apart
And nothing seems to work out right
And you’re trying

You’re still alright

When everything starts to feel the same
And everyone around you seems to change
You went along with me when things weren’t right
And when the morning slowly fades to night

When all you have just falls apart
And nothing seems to work out right
And you’re trying

You’re still alright

[jqueller9]

“Still Alright” by Adam Merrin captures the monotonous consistency of the Tyrones’ lives in Eugenes O’neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night, and conveys their desperation to escape their interminable struggles. “And when the morning slowly fades to night,” while being an obvious parallel to the play’s name, also highlights the hopelessness of the Tyrones’ daily lives; their days drag in a repetitive spiral into havoc. It is clear throughout the play that the Tyrones fall into the same struggles and arguments each day. When Mary asks Jamie what he and Tyrone are arguing about, Jamie responds, “The same old stuff” (40). Similarly, in the song, “everything starts to feel the same.” Consequently, when “nothing seems to work out right” on a daily basis, the Tyrones resort to different methods to escape reality. Mary concedes to her morphine addiction, and Jamie, Edmund, and Tyrone rely heavily on alcohol. The singer laments, “Now you see it all and what is real.” It is the reality of her life that drives Mary to take morphine. When speaking of the fog, she says, “It hides you from the world and the world from you. You feel that everything has changed, and nothing is what it seemed to be” (98). The rest of the Tyrones use alcohol to avoid the reality of their struggles. When Tyrone hears Mary taking morphine, Edmund says, “Forget it! How about another drink?” (136) Because of the severity of their problems, which seem doomed to continue, the Tyrones abuse substances to pretend they’re “still alright.”