The song "Will I" from RENT is a very simple concept and is easy to follow. Just one line repeated over and over for 2 minutes and 46 seconds.
"Will I lose my dignity
Will someone care
Will I wake tomorrow
From this nightmare"
Even so, "Will I" has a powerful message behind it. The song is sung by the eight members of the Life Support group as well as two other characters, Marc and Rodger. All of the Life Support members have A.I.D.s and fear what will happen to their lives and their reputations in the eyes of those they care about.
When A.I.D.s were first discovered, it was labeled a "gay disease" because most of the people who reported having it were homosexual. However, it was later proven false, as A.I.D.s does not discriminate between heterosexuals and homosexuals. But, at the time this film is set in, sexually transmitted diseases and infections were blamed on the L.G.B.T. community.
This song is very important in bringing awareness to A.I.D.s and what they are capable of. They tear apart a person's life. They had the power to make these eight Life Support members afraid of losing their friends and families, of being looked down upon by society, of being forever trapped in "this nightmare."
It may be a simple and strait forward song, but it is extremely powerful.
DISCLAIMER: The following article talks about death and goes deeply into its meaning. It also spoils a major plot element in the movie/musical RENT. Read at your own risk.
"I'll Cover You (Reprise)" is hands down the saddest song in the movie/musical RENT. Every time I listen to this song, I always sing along with Jesse L. Martin as he cries out this foreshadowed eulogy.
In his voice, you can hear the pain his character Tim Collins is going through after his boyfriend, Angle, dies of A.I.D.s. It really makes you contemplate what the worth of a life is.
Angel was an amazing character: a homosexual cross-dresser with A.I.D.s who wasn't afraid to live life to the fullest and share his love with everyone he met. He was a fun loving, over the top Drag Queen with a heart of gold. He didn't deserve to have a sexually transmitted disease. He didn't deserve to die so young. And part of me wants to argue that he didn't deserve to die at all. But this thought gets me going down a dark path in which I ask myself; if people don't deserve to die, why do they?
Would death exist for all living things if all living things did not in some way deserve to die? According to Webster's Dictionary, to deserve is a noun that means "to be worthy, fit or suitable for some reward or requital." So perhaps death is either a reward or a punishment for something.
If death is a reward, is it the universe's way of saying "You have served your purpose and the Universe has no other use for you. Thank you very much and enjoy your death!" If that's the case, then why does it tend to make people feel negative thoughts instead of congratulatory ones? And why do some people live good lives and others live bad ones and they are both rewarded?
Then, maybe it's a punishment. Everyone's done something bad in their lives. And every action has a positive or negative reaction. But, death seems like an extreme punishment for those who have done minor wrongs and have strived their entire lives to do as much good as they can. Again, it isn't fair that someone who has lived a good life is punished as harshly as someone who lives a bad one.
So, death is not a reward. And it isn't a punishment, either. Then the only logical answer is that death is something else all together. perhaps death is just a natural event. An occurrence that must be accepted as inevitable no mater how a person dies or at what age. And perhaps death is non-discriminatory about who it takes and under what circumstances.
But, if all that is true, and death is neither a reward nor a punishment, simply a natural occurrence which all living things must take part it, then why do I still feel so sad about Angel?
Love is a powerful force. Many people will insist that it is the most powerful force in the world. But how does one go about describing this emotion? How can you put into words the most indescribable feeling there is?
In Jonathan Larson's Broadway/movie musical RENT, he composed a song and a reprise called "Seasons of Love," and the way he portrays love is simply beautiful. In most works, love is described as a magical event that only happens once in a lifetime. But "Seasons of Love" instead insists that love can be found everyday, anywhere.
Larson is really good at putting emphasis on the things we may take for granted: "In daylights/In sunsets/In midnights/In cups of coffee/In inches/In miles/In laughter/In strife." He proves that love can be found in everything we do. If we ever need to find that love, all we have to do is look around at the people and things you see everyday. They have all shaped our lives in some way, be it big or small.
Below are the songs "Seasons of Love" and "Seasons of Love B." I highly recommend that you at least listen to these two renditions. If you ever get the chance, I also recommend watching the movie or the Broadway production.
