Imitation 2 (1960's): The Four Top, Reach Out I'll be There

Assignment # 3
Rap & Spoken Word

The song “Reach Out, I’ll be There” by The Four Top is about a guy who notices a girl that needs help and is willing to go that extra mile in order to help her, get through her situations. I believe the context of this song is based on emotions and how a person is feeling at a given time. For example in the first few lines, he points how the girl may be feeling down and all her hope is gone. Throughout the entire song he tries to guess all the possible things that may be wrong with the girl and whatever is wrong with her; he is sure he can cure it if she reaches out to him.

Now if you feel that you can't go on
Because all your hope is gone
And your life is filled with confusion
And happiness is just an illusion
And your world around is tumblin' down
Darling, reach out
Reach out, for me.

I think this song is a boast. The reason I say this is because the author brags about how he would constantly be there whenever she needs him. For example when she’s down and there is no one around, or feeling confused all she has to do is reach out and he’ll supposedly be there waiting for here. Also he makes it seems like he want her to need help so he can be the one to help her.

The rhyme scheme of this song is A, A, B, B. The author uses a lot of rhyme scheme throughout the song and then at different points he began to use internal rhyme, which brings me to the literary devices he uses in his song. Some literary devices he uses in this song are tone, rhythm, and end rhyme. The tone of this song is very strong and content. The things he talks about you would think the tone will be dispirited. However, his voice sound very determined to get what he seeks out for. The rhythm is to a bob of the head and even if you two step you’ll be able to keep up with the beat. He uses a lot of end rhyme in this song and usually I do not go for end rhymes because people usually just think of the first word that comes to mind to rhyme with the word they already used. Well, I typically do that. However, in this song, it does not seem like the author was just trying to rhyme, he was actually making sense like they usually do.