The song that I think should be added to the list of 100 poetic songs:
Gravity ~ Sara Bareilles
This song is very poetic, scoring a 190 on the song rating sheet. While this number may not be as high as some others on the list, you have to take into account that the song actually has less lyrics to work with than those songs. But even though it has less lyrics, the song still manages to use a multitude of poetic devices such as imagery, paradox, hyperbole, symbolism, double entendre, alliteration, ambiguity, oxymoron, pun, and metaphor. It is also has a cohesive narrative, universal relevance, extended metaphor, sophisticated rhyme scheme, and a successful tone, and the vocals are emotionally evocative, showcasing an expansive range and being accompanied by virtuoso instrumentals. The song talks about the idea of not being able to get away from/get over something (I personally think it is getting over heartbreak; but the song is ambiguous because it is open to interpretation), using the metaphor/symbol of gravity to describe this feeling. The gravity is "keeping [her] down." This quote is also a double entendre because gravity literally keeps you down, but the "he" in this case is also keeping her down emotionally. This whole situation is accompanied by several paradoxes: "You hold me without touch/You keep me without chains". While these situations may seem illogical at first, this feeling of being kept by some unseen force actually happens a lot. That is the whole image that this song so adequately describes, by comparing it to gravity.
In addition to the poetic nature of the lyrics by themselves, this song is also very artistic in the way that the instrumentals, vocals, and structure of the music match up to the lyrics. The lyrics of the song describe a cycle: she starts off down ("Something always brings me back to you/It never takes too long"), throughout the middle of the song is building up strength to break free ("Set me free, leave me be/I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity" is the beginning of the chorus), by the bridge seems really angry and frustrated ("You're neither friend nor foe, though I/Can't seem to let you go/The one thing that I still know is that you're/Keeping me down"), before crashing back to where she began with the end: "Something always brings me back to you/It never takes too long." The music and the vocals match this cycle and build effect exactly. The song starts off soft, with just sparse piano chords, and builds up through the choruses and second verse. At the bridge, stacatto strings are added in giving the song a more agitated feel, it gets louder and the vocals get more urgent until all the music stops and all you hear is Sara' voice soaring on the word "down." Then the beginning repeats again; the chords and melody are almost exactly the same, indicating how the whole thing is a never-ending vicious cycle. For all these reasons, I think "Gravity" should definitely be on the list of the 100 poetic songs.
Lyrics
Monday, May 24, 2010
100 Poetic Songs
Hallelujah ~ Leonard Cohen
This song has been covered many times by many different artists, and with good reason, because it is a very good song. This song is extremely poetic, earning a grand total of 255 on the song rating sheet, and definitely deserves a spot on the list of the 100 most poetic songs. The song uses a multitude of poetic devices including imagery, allusions, characterization, ambiguity, irony, paradoxes, symbolism, allegory, and a motif of "Hallelujah." The song uses Bible stories as well as other religious allusions ("holy dove", "take the name in vain") to describe the painfulness of love. It uses irony because "Hallelujah" is usually used to express great joy; but in this case, "It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah." This song has universal relevance, because everyone has experienced that feeling where they are sad about something they should be happy about, and is very emotionally evocative. In addition, I always like when the tone of the lyrics match up with the mood of the music; but this song takes it one step further. The lyrics describing David's "secret chord:" "The fourth, the fifth/The minor fall, the major lift" are also describing the actual chord progression of that part of the song, which is something really artistic. Overall, this is definitely an extremely poetic song.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey There Delilah ~ Plain White T's
This song is poetic, but I don't think it is one of the 100 most poetic songs ever. It scores a 137 on the song rating sheet, which is pretty decent, but mostly it uses the same devices over and over again. These devices are alliteration (assonance and consonance), hyperbole, and imagery. It also uses a few allusions (New York City and Times Square), a simile ("Times Square can't shine as bright as you"), and a metaphor ("Listen to my voice, it's my disguise"). The song also gets points for cohesive narrative, epic/universal relevance, original point of view (epistolary), and is emotionally evocative. The instrumentals are also mastery. It loses a few points for cliche phrases such as "Times are getting hard," and "The world will never ever be the same." The song is very straightforward: its basically a love letter to a girl far away telling her how great she is and soon they can be together. It doesn't really have any ambiguous qualities that leave you wondering what meaning was the one that the writer originally intended. The song uses poetic devices, but I think it goes a little overboard on the hyperbole (I found 8), which I've noticed tend to go hand in hand with cliches. So yes, it's a nice, poetic song, but one of the 100 best? Not really.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Across The Universe ~ The Beatles
I think that this song also warrants being on the list of 100 poetic songs. Scoring a 231 on the song rating sheet, this song racks up most of its points from imagery and personification/objectification, but it also uses alliteration, hyperbole ("Nothing's gonna change my world"), allusion ("Jai guru deva om"), ambiguity (it's open to interpretation), similes and metaphors, and symbolism. In addition, it has epic/universal relevance, a pervasive mood, a successful tone, is emotionally evocative, and has instrumental mastery. The chorus mostly repeats "Jai guru deva om" and "Nothing's gonna change my world," but the verses use loads of imagery and personification, along with similes and metaphors, to describe thoughts and emotions. The language in the verses is very figurative, and very poetic. A really good example of the beautiful, thought-provoking language used is in the second verse: "Images of broken light which/dance before me like a million suns." This uses imagery, personfication, alliteration, and a simile all rolled into two short little lines!
Lyrics
This song has been covered many times by many different artists, and with good reason, because it is a very good song. This song is extremely poetic, earning a grand total of 255 on the song rating sheet, and definitely deserves a spot on the list of the 100 most poetic songs. The song uses a multitude of poetic devices including imagery, allusions, characterization, ambiguity, irony, paradoxes, symbolism, allegory, and a motif of "Hallelujah." The song uses Bible stories as well as other religious allusions ("holy dove", "take the name in vain") to describe the painfulness of love. It uses irony because "Hallelujah" is usually used to express great joy; but in this case, "It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah." This song has universal relevance, because everyone has experienced that feeling where they are sad about something they should be happy about, and is very emotionally evocative. In addition, I always like when the tone of the lyrics match up with the mood of the music; but this song takes it one step further. The lyrics describing David's "secret chord:" "The fourth, the fifth/The minor fall, the major lift" are also describing the actual chord progression of that part of the song, which is something really artistic. Overall, this is definitely an extremely poetic song.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey There Delilah ~ Plain White T's
This song is poetic, but I don't think it is one of the 100 most poetic songs ever. It scores a 137 on the song rating sheet, which is pretty decent, but mostly it uses the same devices over and over again. These devices are alliteration (assonance and consonance), hyperbole, and imagery. It also uses a few allusions (New York City and Times Square), a simile ("Times Square can't shine as bright as you"), and a metaphor ("Listen to my voice, it's my disguise"). The song also gets points for cohesive narrative, epic/universal relevance, original point of view (epistolary), and is emotionally evocative. The instrumentals are also mastery. It loses a few points for cliche phrases such as "Times are getting hard," and "The world will never ever be the same." The song is very straightforward: its basically a love letter to a girl far away telling her how great she is and soon they can be together. It doesn't really have any ambiguous qualities that leave you wondering what meaning was the one that the writer originally intended. The song uses poetic devices, but I think it goes a little overboard on the hyperbole (I found 8), which I've noticed tend to go hand in hand with cliches. So yes, it's a nice, poetic song, but one of the 100 best? Not really.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Across The Universe ~ The Beatles
I think that this song also warrants being on the list of 100 poetic songs. Scoring a 231 on the song rating sheet, this song racks up most of its points from imagery and personification/objectification, but it also uses alliteration, hyperbole ("Nothing's gonna change my world"), allusion ("Jai guru deva om"), ambiguity (it's open to interpretation), similes and metaphors, and symbolism. In addition, it has epic/universal relevance, a pervasive mood, a successful tone, is emotionally evocative, and has instrumental mastery. The chorus mostly repeats "Jai guru deva om" and "Nothing's gonna change my world," but the verses use loads of imagery and personification, along with similes and metaphors, to describe thoughts and emotions. The language in the verses is very figurative, and very poetic. A really good example of the beautiful, thought-provoking language used is in the second verse: "Images of broken light which/dance before me like a million suns." This uses imagery, personfication, alliteration, and a simile all rolled into two short little lines!
Lyrics
Monday, May 3, 2010
The Worst Song
Crank Dat (Soulja Boy) ~ Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
"Lyrics"
Crank Dat (Soulja Boy), by Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, is one of the worst "songs" ever written. I'm not sure you can even call it a song, because it is just really bad both lyrically and musically. It received a score of negative 108 on the song rating sheet. The only good things this song has one instance of alliteration consonance ("super soak"), and a handful of allusions (Superman, Roosevelt, Robocop (I'm not actually sure what that is, though.)) However, since these allusions make absolutely no sense ("Then Superman dat oh"????) in the context of the song (if the song even has a context), they really aren't even poetic. The list of deficiencies is much longer. Practically every line is a grammar violation ("That" is spelled T-H-A-T!!! You make "hater" plural with an s, not a z! "Fo' sho'" are not real words! What on earth does "now watch me you" mean??), and the song is so repetitive. Also, there is absolutely no need to stick your "name" in your song every other line. There is incoherence everywhere as well because some of the lines make absolutely no sense, like "I got me some bathin' apes." What does that even mean??? Actually I don't what the whole song even means, though I'm assuming its something inappropriate. Either that, or it means absoultely nothing at all. In addition, it is basically a rap song, meaning that singing-wise, the vocals are really bad as well. Overall, the song just makes no sense and is incredibly irritating, and it really doesn't even have any good points to offset the bad.
"Lyrics"
Crank Dat (Soulja Boy), by Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, is one of the worst "songs" ever written. I'm not sure you can even call it a song, because it is just really bad both lyrically and musically. It received a score of negative 108 on the song rating sheet. The only good things this song has one instance of alliteration consonance ("super soak"), and a handful of allusions (Superman, Roosevelt, Robocop (I'm not actually sure what that is, though.)) However, since these allusions make absolutely no sense ("Then Superman dat oh"????) in the context of the song (if the song even has a context), they really aren't even poetic. The list of deficiencies is much longer. Practically every line is a grammar violation ("That" is spelled T-H-A-T!!! You make "hater" plural with an s, not a z! "Fo' sho'" are not real words! What on earth does "now watch me you" mean??), and the song is so repetitive. Also, there is absolutely no need to stick your "name" in your song every other line. There is incoherence everywhere as well because some of the lines make absolutely no sense, like "I got me some bathin' apes." What does that even mean??? Actually I don't what the whole song even means, though I'm assuming its something inappropriate. Either that, or it means absoultely nothing at all. In addition, it is basically a rap song, meaning that singing-wise, the vocals are really bad as well. Overall, the song just makes no sense and is incredibly irritating, and it really doesn't even have any good points to offset the bad.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Songs with Social Relevance
Unwritten ~ Natasha Bedingfield
This song is about going for your dreams and not letting other people dictate how to live your life. This is socially relevant because this is something everyone can relate to, and it is a positive message: be yourself. The song is really just about living and loving life, and doing so in your own way. This is shown in lyrics such as "Life your life with arms wide open" and "No one else can feel it for you/Only you can let it in." Sometimes in our society today, people are afraid to be their selves for whatever reason, and this is the perfect empowerment song to encourage all people to not be afraid to just be themselves.
The title of this song, "Unwritten," refers to the singer's "book" being "unwritten." Basically, she is saying that she still has life left to live, and she can write her book however she wants. She also tells the listeners that this is true for them as well: "Today is where your book begins." At the beginning, she also says, "I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined." This means taht she "marches to the beat of her own drum"; she is her own person and won't let other people write her life for her.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Imagine ~ John Lennon
John Lennon may have written "Imagine" in 1971, while America was in the midst of the Vietnam War, but its message is still just as socially relevant today. "Imagine" is not a complex song to understand, it is simply telling listeners to just imagine what life would be like in a peaceful, non-troubled world. Lennon tells us to imagine what life would be like without warring countries, fighting religions, greedy people, hungry people, and everyone living as one. The main message of the song is especially shown in the lyrics at the end of each verse: "Imagine all the people" and then "Living for today" (1st verse), "Living life in peace" (2nd verse), and "Sharing all the world" (3rd verse).
In the chorus, Lennon adresses the fact that his vision of the ideal world may not come true right away ("You may say I'm a dreamer"), but he is holding out hope that it will happen someday ("I hope someday you'll join us"). Today, almost 40 years later, it still has not happened, but that is what makes the song still very relevant in our society today. In fact, America is again in another not-very-widely-supported war, just like Vietnam was. The song is just as relevant today as it was back when Lennon was alive and peforming this song.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stupid Girls ~ Pink
Pink's "Stupid Girls" may not be about quite as weighty an issue as world peace, but it is still very relevant in today's society. "Stupid Girls" is about how sometimes girls feel as if they have to be stereotypical "girly-girls" who don't care about anything except looks, being skinny, and getting guys. The singer is afraid that there isn't going to be enough "outcasts and girls with ambition" left, and she is upset that there aren't enough girls left that aspire to be the next president, that care about the issues the world faces, that are actually smart.
Throughout the song, Pink keeps repeating that she doesn't want to be one of the "stupid girls," but she also says that maybe she should "flip her blond her back," etc., like they do, then "maybe that guy will call [her] back." Perhaps with this she is saying that other girls face this same decision, but unfortunately, some end up going the route of becoming one of the "stupid girls." This song is relevant because the fact is that there are girls like that out there (in particular some of the famous ones), and society does put pressures on girls to be thin, to be conventionally attractive, etc.
Lyrics
This song is about going for your dreams and not letting other people dictate how to live your life. This is socially relevant because this is something everyone can relate to, and it is a positive message: be yourself. The song is really just about living and loving life, and doing so in your own way. This is shown in lyrics such as "Life your life with arms wide open" and "No one else can feel it for you/Only you can let it in." Sometimes in our society today, people are afraid to be their selves for whatever reason, and this is the perfect empowerment song to encourage all people to not be afraid to just be themselves.
The title of this song, "Unwritten," refers to the singer's "book" being "unwritten." Basically, she is saying that she still has life left to live, and she can write her book however she wants. She also tells the listeners that this is true for them as well: "Today is where your book begins." At the beginning, she also says, "I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined." This means taht she "marches to the beat of her own drum"; she is her own person and won't let other people write her life for her.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Imagine ~ John Lennon
John Lennon may have written "Imagine" in 1971, while America was in the midst of the Vietnam War, but its message is still just as socially relevant today. "Imagine" is not a complex song to understand, it is simply telling listeners to just imagine what life would be like in a peaceful, non-troubled world. Lennon tells us to imagine what life would be like without warring countries, fighting religions, greedy people, hungry people, and everyone living as one. The main message of the song is especially shown in the lyrics at the end of each verse: "Imagine all the people" and then "Living for today" (1st verse), "Living life in peace" (2nd verse), and "Sharing all the world" (3rd verse).
In the chorus, Lennon adresses the fact that his vision of the ideal world may not come true right away ("You may say I'm a dreamer"), but he is holding out hope that it will happen someday ("I hope someday you'll join us"). Today, almost 40 years later, it still has not happened, but that is what makes the song still very relevant in our society today. In fact, America is again in another not-very-widely-supported war, just like Vietnam was. The song is just as relevant today as it was back when Lennon was alive and peforming this song.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stupid Girls ~ Pink
Pink's "Stupid Girls" may not be about quite as weighty an issue as world peace, but it is still very relevant in today's society. "Stupid Girls" is about how sometimes girls feel as if they have to be stereotypical "girly-girls" who don't care about anything except looks, being skinny, and getting guys. The singer is afraid that there isn't going to be enough "outcasts and girls with ambition" left, and she is upset that there aren't enough girls left that aspire to be the next president, that care about the issues the world faces, that are actually smart.
Throughout the song, Pink keeps repeating that she doesn't want to be one of the "stupid girls," but she also says that maybe she should "flip her blond her back," etc., like they do, then "maybe that guy will call [her] back." Perhaps with this she is saying that other girls face this same decision, but unfortunately, some end up going the route of becoming one of the "stupid girls." This song is relevant because the fact is that there are girls like that out there (in particular some of the famous ones), and society does put pressures on girls to be thin, to be conventionally attractive, etc.
Lyrics
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The World in 6 Songs
The six kinds of songs (from The World in Six Songs) are friendship, joy, comfort, knowledge, religion, and love.
Friendship:
Lean on Me ~ Bill Withers
This song is about being a friend to someone. The singer is telling another person, who is sad and troubled, that they can "lean on" him for support. The singer will always be a true friend to the other person by being there when he/she needs it. He also says, that someday, the roles might be reversed, and he might need someone to lean on. He would have that in his friend.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joy:
Walkin' On Sunshine ~ Katrina and the Waves
This song is about the joy that love and life bring. The chorus frequently repeats, "I'm walking on sunshine...and don't it feel good!" "Walking on sunshine" is an metaphor (that also uses imagery) for being happy. Sunshine usually has a positive, happy connotation, and this song uses that to its fullest. In its essence, this song is really just about being happy.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comfort:
Let It Be ~ The Beatles
This song is about letting your hardships be in order to get through them. While the song is kind of sad, because it may remind you of troubles, it is also very comforting and uplifting because it inspires you to just "let it be." The singer of the song is comforted by "Mother Mary...speaking words of wisdom," and the listener is in turn comforted by the song.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Knowledge:
How to Save A Life ~ The Fray
Friendship:
Lean on Me ~ Bill Withers
This song is about being a friend to someone. The singer is telling another person, who is sad and troubled, that they can "lean on" him for support. The singer will always be a true friend to the other person by being there when he/she needs it. He also says, that someday, the roles might be reversed, and he might need someone to lean on. He would have that in his friend.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joy:
Walkin' On Sunshine ~ Katrina and the Waves
This song is about the joy that love and life bring. The chorus frequently repeats, "I'm walking on sunshine...and don't it feel good!" "Walking on sunshine" is an metaphor (that also uses imagery) for being happy. Sunshine usually has a positive, happy connotation, and this song uses that to its fullest. In its essence, this song is really just about being happy.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comfort:
Let It Be ~ The Beatles
This song is about letting your hardships be in order to get through them. While the song is kind of sad, because it may remind you of troubles, it is also very comforting and uplifting because it inspires you to just "let it be." The singer of the song is comforted by "Mother Mary...speaking words of wisdom," and the listener is in turn comforted by the song.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Knowledge:
How to Save A Life ~ The Fray
In this song, the singer is telling the listener "how to save a life." This is a knowledge song because it transmits this knowledge. While the song does not necessarily tell how to save a life in the literal sense, it does tell of a person who is trying to say how he tried to help his friend, but couldn't, and is now trying to describe that to the listener so that maybe they can use that knowledge in the future to save their friend's life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Religion:
Angel ~ Sarah Mclachlan
This song can be interpreted in different ways, such as about dying of a drug overdose, or maybe someone who was depressed and committed suicide, but one thing that it is definitely about is that person being "in the arms of an angel." This is where the religious or spiritual aspect comes in, because angels are very spiritual (in a positive way). This person may have had a lot of struggles, but now they are in heaven with the angels.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Love:
I'm Yours ~ Jason Mraz
This song is simply about being in love. One of the lines says "look into your heart and you'll find love, love, love." I think this line sums up the song and love in general. Another line that I think serves this same purpose is "It's out God-forsaken right to be loved, loved, loved." It's really just about the beauty and joy of being in love.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Pun
Funhouse ~ P!nk
In this song P!nk uses a pun on the lyrics "This used to be a funhouse/But now its full of evil clowns." The word "funhouse" is a pun because it can be taken literally as a funhouse, like at a carnival, or as a "fun house," meaning things used to be good or fun, but now they aren't.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this song P!nk uses a pun on the lyrics "This used to be a funhouse/But now its full of evil clowns." The word "funhouse" is a pun because it can be taken literally as a funhouse, like at a carnival, or as a "fun house," meaning things used to be good or fun, but now they aren't.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Breakeven ~ The Script
In this song a pun is used in the line "When a heart breaks, no it don't break even." The word "breakeven" or "break even" is a pun because it can be interpreted as the heart is not breaking evenly, or that there is no "breakeven" point in the break-up.
Euphemism
Take A Bow ~ Rihanna
While some parts of this song are rather rude, there are some euphemisms in it as well. For instance, "take a bow" is a nicer way of saying something like "get lost" or just "leave." In addition "that was quite a show, very entertaining" is a more polite (albeit sarcastic) way of saying what could be said there.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Love Drunk ~ Boys Like Girls
The main euphemism in this song is "I used to be love drunk/But now I'm hungover." This is a nicer way of saying, "I used to love you, but now I don't. Sorry." Or something like that. "I'll love you forever/Forever is over" is another way to say the same thing without sounding so blunt/rude.
Lyrics
While some parts of this song are rather rude, there are some euphemisms in it as well. For instance, "take a bow" is a nicer way of saying something like "get lost" or just "leave." In addition "that was quite a show, very entertaining" is a more polite (albeit sarcastic) way of saying what could be said there.
Lyrics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Love Drunk ~ Boys Like Girls
The main euphemism in this song is "I used to be love drunk/But now I'm hungover." This is a nicer way of saying, "I used to love you, but now I don't. Sorry." Or something like that. "I'll love you forever/Forever is over" is another way to say the same thing without sounding so blunt/rude.
Lyrics
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)