Notebook 10- 6o

1. Cancer: My Chemical Romance

a. This song is from the perspective of someone who is battling cancer. The
song talks about some of the struggles someone fighting cancer may go
through. It talks about losing all their hair, being “soggy from all the
chemo.” There are constant references to never being able to grow up or
marry. It demonstrates the pain these patients are in when it says,
“counting down the days to go.” One of the biggest parts of some cancer
patients is worrying about their loved ones after they are gone. The song
says, “The hardest part of this is leaving you.”
2. Fix You: Coldplay
a. This song is about someone watching someone they love suffering. The
song itself is not about cancer directly, but it still correlates a lot. The song
itself is about loss. When looking at it in the context of cancer, I imagine a
parent singing this to their child. From the parents I’ve talked to and read
about, while doing my research for this project, they would take all their
child’s pain upon themselves. They would do anything to be able to “fix
them.”
3. Braid My Hair: Randy Owen
a. This song is about a little girl with cancer who dreams of all the things
she’ll do once she beats cancer. This song represents the hopes and
dreams of these children fighting this battle. It shows all the little things
they are missing out on. The song starts with the dad saying when she
grows up she could be the president or find a cure for the disease she’s
fighting, but his daughter says she can’t wait to climb a tree, take off her
mask and breathe in the air, and most of all “braid her hair.”
4. Fight Song: Rachel Platten
a. I don’t think there’s any doubt that people battling cancer are the strongest
people. They are never willing to give up. There’s a line in the song that
says, “this is my fight song… take back my life song.” I think this line is so
powerful. This disease takes everything away from those with it, and their
families. Even if it doesn’t literally take away their life by killing them, it still
takes away everything from them. They are fighters and they are going to
take back what cancer stole from them.
5. Live Like you were Dying: Tim Mcgraw
a. This song is about a man who finds out he is sick and doesn’t have much
time left. He talks about all the things he did when he was sick that he
otherwise never would have done. I think this song is more about not
taking life for granted. You don’t know how much time you have left, so
 live your life! There are people who can’t really live, so if you can, it’s kind
of selfish to take that gift for granted.
6. Clouds: Zach Sobiech
a. This song is written by Zach, who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. He
was given a very short life sentence when he was diagnosed. He battled
with cancer for a while, but when he knew his battle was almost over, he
recorded this song. The chorus of the song is “And we’ll go up, up, up. But
I’ll fly a little higher. We’ll go up in the clouds because the view is a little
nicer. Up here my dear, It won’t be long now, it won’t be long now.”
Sometimes no matter how hard you fight, it’s not enough, and towards the
end of the fight, these kids(and others) have endured so much pain, that
they look forward to it all just being over.