Song Analysis 2 - If I Close My Eyes Forever

If I Close My Eyes Forever
Ozzy Osbourne and Lita Ford

Singer Key
LITA FORD
OZZY OSBOURNE

Baby, I get so scared inside and I don't really understand
Is it love that's on my mind or is it fantasy?
Heaven, is in the palm of my hand and it's waiting here for you
What am I supposed to do with a childhood tragedy?

If I close my eyes forever
Would it all remain unchanged?
If I close my eyes forever
Would it all remain the same?

Sometimes, its hard to hold on, so hard to hold on to my dreams
It isn't always what it seems when you're face to face with me
Like a dagger you stick me in the heart and taste the blood from my blade
And when we sleep would you shelter me in your warm and darkened grave?

If I close my eyes forever
Would it all remain unchanged?
If I close my eyes forever
Would it all remain the same?

Will you ever take me?
No I just can't take the pain
Would you ever trust me?
No I'll never feel the same (oh)

(Instrumental)

I know I've been so hard on you
I know I've told you lies
If I could have just one more wish
I'd wipe the cobwebs from my eyes

If I close my eyes forever
Would it all remain unchanged?
If I close my eyes forever
would it all remain the same? (Oh yeah)

Close your eyes...
Close your eyes...
You gotta close your eyes for me..........

In the late 80’s Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne, two well known songwriters, teamed up to make a dual song. This song, If I Close My Eyes Forever, combines the two musical styles of Ford and Osbourne, the synthesizer and heavy guitar. This song focuses on the theme of loss, for one another, using the poetic device point of view, allusion, imagery, and metaphors. Throughout the song, Ozzy Osbourne and Lita Ford switch off singing, sometimes half-way through a verse, expressing the loss that they have gone through. What needs to be known about this song is that it is a musical conversation between two people.
This song starts out with Lita Ford singing, “Baby, I get so scared inside and I don't really understand/Is it love that's on my mind or is it fantasy?” Here she is singing to Ozzy, questioning whether what she feels is love or not. He replies with, “Heaven, is in the palm of my hand and it's waiting here for you/What am I supposed to do with a childhood tragedy?” Here, he is alluding to love, “heaven” is in the palm of his hand, and all Ford needs to do is take it, and that there is no other use for it other than her. Allusion is the indirect reference to something without saying the exact words.
In the next verse, Ozzy starts by singing, “Sometimes, its hard to hold on, so hard to hold on to my dreams/It isn't always what it seems when you're face to face with me” In this verse, Ozzy is saying to Ford that he can’t hold onto his dreams, because when he is with her he sees the truth; the truth which he thinks that she doesn’t love him. The conversation continues as Ford sings, “Like a dagger you stick me in the heart and taste the blood from my blade/And when we sleep would you shelter me in your warm and darkened grave?” Here she alludes to how his words deeply hurt her, seeming as if he enjoys to; stabbing her in the heart with a dagger is how she is hurt by the words, as “taste the blood from my blade” is how he enjoys causing her pain. These same lyrics provide imagery to the song, which is the deliberate visual pictures throughout the song; the listener can see the images of the dagger covered in blood in their head.
The next verse is the most interesting of the song, where the conversation switches off every line, between Ford and Ozzy. It starts with Ford, “Will you ever take me?” This is Ford simply asking a question, whether Ozzy will take her, whereas he responds with “No I just can't take the pain”. She continues with “Would you ever trust me?”, where Ozzy will respond with, “No I'll never feel the same (oh)” This is where Ozzy tells Ford that he will not be with her, for he doesn’t trust her anymore. The remainder of the song is a monologue of Ford describing that she has lost him, and her last wish would be to “wipe the cobwebs” from her eyes, alluding that she would not be blind to his feelings if she could have just one last chance.
The song, If I Close My Eyes Forever, by Ozzy Osbourne and Lita Ford describe a common problem, a fight in a relationship, leading to the loss of their love. Throughout the song, each “character” confesses to each other how they have been hurt. At the end, Ford lets him know the love she feels for him. However, he is ultimately lost to her.

Diction Essay

Two historic bands, White Lion and Poison, rocked the 80’s with their ripping guitar solo’s and their flick-your-bic ballads. The theme of loss soared through the 80’s; ironically never lost itself throughout time and it still exist largely in today’s music. White Lion’s When the Children Cry is an example of the theme of loss, while Poison’s Every Rose Has Its Thorn shows a different type of loss. Both examples demonstrate a different diction, the choice of words the songwriter chose, throughout their lyrics.

White Lion’s When the Children Cry is demonstrates the loss of the world around us and the world that is left to the younger generation. This type of loss differs from many other songs that were created throughout the 80’s, which usually depicts the loss of one’s love. An example of the loss of the world around us in the song’s lyrics is, “What have we become/Just look what we have done/All that we destroyed/You must build again.” This shows that man now is destroying the natural world around him, and that the younger generation must rebuild what this one has destroyed. The diction used here is plain and simple to describe the situation, as opposed to the next song…

Poison’s Every Rose Has Its Thorn is an example of the loss of one’s love. Every lyrics of this song is about how the songwriter intended this song to be depicted as loss. Many of the lyrics, as well as the title, allude to the theme of loss, and some lyrics come out plainly and show the listener that the song is about loss. The lyrics, “Every rose has its thorn/Just like every night has its dawn/Just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad song/Every rose has its thorn” show the usage diction and allusion to describe how the songwriter has been through a loss.

In the two songs, When the Children Cry and Every Rose Has Its Thorn, both use different diction to show how their songs use the theme of loss. However, both songs show a different type of loss. When the Children Cry shows the destruction of the natural world by the current generation and how the next generation will have to rebuild it; as Every Rose Has Its Thorn shows how the loss of one’s love affects their life. The diction in the first song is blatant and shows the audience the point of the song clearly, where as the second song uses different diction to allude to the theme.

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