“In Case You Don’t Live Forever” by Ben Platt

Ben Platt’s powerful song, “In Case You Don’t Live Forever,” is the love letter all of us would want to write a parent, friend or mentor who’d served as a guide in our lives. Released in 2019 on his debut album “Sing to Me Instead,” the song is one of several that explores Platt’s emotional inner world and relationships.

It begins:

You put all your faith in my dreams
You gave me the world that I wanted
What did I do to deserve you?
I follow your steps with my feet
I walk on the road that you started
I need you to know that I heard you, every word

“In Case You Don’t Live Forever” Reminds Us: Nobody Does

Actor and singer Ben Platt

Platt has said that while “In Case You Don’t Live Forever” refers to his father, who “leads his life with integrity, acceptance and compassion,” it’s also a tribute to his Uncle Gary – the only other member of his family who was gay, and who died when he was young. “I was thinking about all the things I wish I had been old enough to articulate,” Platt said in an interview with amNY. Platt’s grief over his inability to do so is evident in the pre-chorus:

I’ve waited way too long to say
Everything you mean to me

The song is both a beautiful ode to those who’ve made us who we are, and a stark reminder not to hold back in communicating our feelings to those we love. As he says in the chorus:

In case you don’t live forever, let me tell you now
I love you more than you’ll ever wrap your head around
In case you don’t live forever, let me tell you the truth
I’m everything that I am because of you

Platt reminds us that “we’ve only got so much time.” But even after those we love are gone, we carry them on in our hearts and our beings. As the final line states: “As long as I’m here as I am, so are you.”

You can listen to Platt sing “In Case You Don’t Live Forever” in the video below.